Chris and Tim Stamper, two of Rare Ltd.'s (Goldeneye 007, Perfect Dark and Viva Pinata) three founders have left the studio. While the news surfaces in the wake of disappointing sales figures for Rare's excellent Viva Pinata, Microsoft told 1UP that sluggish Pinata sales had "absolutely" nothing to do with their departure.
"Chris and Tim have helped shape Rare into the world-renowned development studio that is it today and their impact on the videogame industry as a whole is well known. They are simply leaving to pursue other opportunities and we wish them luck in their future endeavors."
The Stampers' exodus comes just four years after Microsoft acquired Rare from Nintendo for $375M. Since that acquisition, Rare has published five games for Microsoft Game Studios.
Microsoft just posted the third quarter of its 2024 fiscal financial results. The software maker made $61.9 billion in revenue and a net income of $21.9 billion during Q3. Revenue is up 17 percent, and net income has increased by 20 percent.
Xbox content + services up 62% while hardware down 31%... seems about right with the way they tout you don't need the hardware to play. People can play on their phones or smart tv or other means. I don't hardly play on my consoles directly since getting devices like the logitech g-cloud and ps portal. Which is to also say I have been playing more digital than physical because of these devices.
Too expensive hardware when others offer the same or more for less? Good work, Green Team.
"Despite some early successes for Xbox games on rival platforms, Xbox hardware is down by a massive 31 percent this quarter."
"Without Activision Blizzard, Microsoft’s overall gaming revenue would have actually declined this quarter."
"Xbox content and services would have only been up a single percent without Activision Blizzard..."
"It looks like next quarter is going to be a similar story for gaming at Microsoft, too."
That is crazy... so A/B/K is carrying the whole Xbox gaming.
Oh and Microsoft will be fine. Windows, Office and Cloud are growing with each pc purchase.
As of right now, there are no monopolies in the games industry, and for the sake of the medium as a whole, they never should either.
And yet the biggest tech companies in America are essentially that. They buy up all the small comps only to kill them off and steal what they have, and if they can't buy em they bleed them to death.
They buy IPs not talent. That's why these buyouts never work and the IPs die. Right now it's too expensive to develop games - but I expect that to shift maybe as AI tools can make it easier. The best games have been indie games for awhile as big developers fuck their ips to death with "games as a service" -
Huzaifa from eXputer: "2008 was home to the likes of Call of Duty: World at War, Dead Space, GTA 4, Far Cry 2, Left 4 Dead, and many other hits, which is outright remarkable."
Just about every year in the 7th generation was great and something we most likely won't experience again.
2009 for example had Assassin's Creed 2, Batman: Arkham Asylum, Dragon Age: Origins, Uncharted 2, Halo 3: ODST, Killzone 2, Borderlands, Bayonetta, and Demon's Souls to name a few.
I wish Rare would make a good game again. Personally, i thought Perfect Dark Zero was very rushed and an average game. Kameo? No thank you. And what on earth was that Grabbed by the Ghoulies crap! If Rare have to go back to Nintendo to make quality games again then it must be done, because it saddens me that such a premium developer like Rare has literally been dragged down the toilet ever since being aqquired by Microsoft Game Studios...
Meh they should stop making kiddy games and work on something serious, rare were great in the banjo days but since Microsoft aquired them they've gone down hill. Microsoft's inhouse studios havent got a touch on Sony's, Playstation has the best developers working for them in the world imo...
I agree with you about rare. They should focus on something more serious. Not too sure about Sony having the best developers though. They did but the tables have turned this time...
I really like Viva Pinata. I thought Kameo was a very good game, and PDZ was okay, but rushed out the door. I enjoy Rare's games, but sometimes I feel they need a bit more polishing before hitting the market.
i personally liked, pdz, viva and kameo, yeah pdz feels rushed but the multiplayer is awesome, but even though they were trying to broaden the audience of the 360 by introducing kiddy games it never relly worked, which is a shame, maybe when viva pinata tv hits european shores it will make VP a kind of sleeper hit. maybe
gamertag: benny o klaatt