Microsoft Acquires Rare Ltd. It's official

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REDMOND, Wash. — Sept. 24, 2002 — Microsoft Corp. today announced it has purchased U.K.-based Rare Ltd., one of the world's leading video game developers, further demonstrating Microsoft's commitment to providing the most innovative interactive experiences available on its Xbox™ video game system. Rare has been the mastermind behind some of the most popular video games in history, including such global multimillion sellers as "GoldenEye 007," "Perfect Dark," "Banjo-Kazooie" and "Donkey Kong 64." Under terms of the $375 million cash transaction, Rare will today begin creating exclusive console gaming blockbusters for Xbox.

With today's announcement, Rare becomes the latest member of a star-studded lineup at Microsoft Game Studios, joining such prestigious worldwide developers as Bungie Studios, the masterminds behind the smash hit "Halo™," named Game of the Year by Electronic Gaming Monthly. Rare's first creation for Xbox, "Kameo," is expected to reach store shelves next spring. Also under development is the highly anticipated sequel to "Perfect Dark." The company is expecting to develop at least five games over the next two years in a variety of genres, including racing, shooters and platformers.

News source: XBox.com

Microsoft is considering extending its shared-source initiative, currently limited to large users such as governments and universities, to MVPs. This would give them smart-card access to much of the Windows source code, he said. There will be a decision on this in the next couple of months, said Lori Moore, vice president of product support services at Microsoft. "There are many options on the table," she said. "There are many ways to be more open, and we are reviewing ideas."

For nine years, the company has designated users with particular skills--usually seen by how often they intervene helpfully in newsgroups--as "most valued professionals". Currently there are about 1,200 MVPs, half of whom are in the United States.

The title is highly regarded, said Thomas Lee, a Windows 2000 MVP who specializes in directory issues, and has just been appointed as chief technologist at QA Training. "You are recognized by your peers, not by an exam that you can cheat in." Linux and its community have a symbiotic relationship, he said: "You don't have that same thing at Microsoft, but there are people who are passionate and technical who are committed to doing a great job."

#1 Davidc2001 on 25 Sep 2002 - 06:55

Damn you monkey boy!

#2 jimbo11883 on 25 Sep 2002 - 10:02

Cool, does this mean a new Donkey Kong Country for the PC? lol

(5 replies) #3 Gooey on 25 Sep 2002 - 11:33

no, DK is owned by Ninty. XBox owners just get things like Kameo and PD, in other words the things Nintendo didn't think were good enough to keep

#3.1 CoCoLUS on 25 Sep 2002 - 11:45

Perfect Dark not good enough to keep? Have you ever played it? It is the best fps for the n64... I dont' know "kameo", though. CoCoLUS

#3.2 Gooey on 25 Sep 2002 - 12:14

Well it looks as though nintendo don't think it's good enough. Why else wouldn't they decide to keep Rare?

#3.3 CoCoLUS on 25 Sep 2002 - 17:32

i think only nintendo knows why... financial issues maybe? rare not happy with gamecube hardware? well, there must be a very good reason, since these 2 companies worked together a long time...

CoCoLUS

#3.4 Spyder on 25 Sep 2002 - 19:27

[quote]financial issues maybe? rare not happy with gamecube hardware?[/quote] I doubt its either of those. i'm more inclined to think that it was a sound business decision. if Rare only accounted for like 1.5% of sales last year (or whatever the numbers were that Nintendo released recently), then the company wasn't paying off for them anymore. Along comes MS and wants to buy Nintendo's shares..they probably saw that as a good opportunity to get good money for something that wasn't doing well for them in the last couple years..

#3.5 CoCoLUS on 25 Sep 2002 - 21:51

1.5% is not much, admitted, though i would blame this on the introduce of the gamecube to the market (new hardware, you can't develop a game in half a year), On the other hand, rare was nintendos numer 1 game development team. I can't believe that nintendo kicked them out just because they had one bad year (last year they got nintendo around 10 percent). And i'm not even talking about the good name and reputation rare has (there isn't a rare game out there which does deserve a rating less than 90%) CoCoLUS

(1 reply) #4 Phil Gates on 25 Sep 2002 - 15:25

make GoldenEye 007 for pc!

#4.1 CoCoLUS on 25 Sep 2002 - 17:35

actually a modern computer can play it (emulate it) with perfect graphics and fast enough. and if you want the original controller, there's an adapter for that

of course it's illegal if you don't own the original n64 cartridge (nintendo thinks even then) CoCoLUS

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