Peter Molyneux Wants To Help Rare Get Its Mojo Back

24 Comments Posted June 15, 2009 - By r_pad

Peter Molyneux Wants To Help Rare Get Its Mojo Back

Update 3:08PM PST

When he's not busy pushing his virtual ~~indentured servant~~ pet boy, Milo, Peter Molyneux is worried about enhancing the reputation of developers in Microsoft's stable. In his new role as creative director of Microsoft Games Studios Europe, Molyneux wants to help Rare get its mojo back. In a recent interview with Gamesindustry.biz he said:

"Actually one of the things I really want to do is help Rare have more of an identity and make sure the people at Rare are seen more within the industry."

That's a wonderful goal, considering that Rare's current identity can be summed up in one word repeated twice: poo. Once upon a time, Rare was one of the prestigious developers in the business, thriving under a hugely successful relationship with Nintendo. From games like Donkey Kong Country to Banjo-Kazooie to GoldenEye 007 to Perfect Dark to Conker's Bad Fur Day, Rare absolutely rocked the SNES, GBC, GBA, and Nintendo 64 systems. Many people felt that the company's talent was getting sucked by other companies or starting their own ventures (Free Radical), which led to a less critically-acclaimed run on the GameCube.

Enter Microsoft, which purchased Rare in 2002 for $375 million. Rare's first offering for Microsoft: Grabbed by the Ghoulies. At the time I treated the game like Rocky V -- I refused to believe that it actually existed. The company's mediocre follow-up efforts -- a rehash of Conker, Perfect Dark: Zero, and Kameo: Elements of Power -- made Microsoft's purchase look foolish and caused some people to think that Rare lost its magic touch. While it has had great success with the Viva Pinata seres, the company is no longer viewed as the hit maker it was in the past.

Molyneux's challenge is pretty huge. These days, most people view Rare as either a joke or a cautionary tale. While I'm sure there are still some enormously talented people with the company, it might be too much for even Sir Peter Molyneux to restore Rare's reputation. Then again, if Rare has thousands of virtual ~~indentured servants~~ pet boys aiding the cause, anything is possible.

Update: I was just discussing this story with X-Play's Adam Sessler, who said, "I hope they're not expecting us to replay Grabbed by the Ghoulies with Project Natal." Luckily, I just finished sipping my Coke Zero as he said that. A few seconds earlier and Adam would have been covered with fake-cola goodness.

I want to know what you think America (and other countries). Will Molyneux be able to help Rare in a substantive way? Or has the company's reputation been irreparably damaged? Will Microsoft ever be able to justify the $375 million it spent on Rare?

Source

Tags: Videogames, Xbox 360

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WhiteWolfAssassin

I think Rare really needs to try to do something different on there next game, instead of working on something there more familiar or comfortable with.

Posted: June 15, 2009 2:45 PM | Reply | Report

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IcemanMX

Amazing how far "GoldenEye" will take your reputation, huh?

-M

Posted: June 15, 2009 2:50 PM | Reply | Report

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LucasFFXI

Good luck getting their mojo back, Austin Powers.

Posted: June 15, 2009 2:54 PM | Reply | Report

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dotrat1989

I want old RARE back! I want a great sequel to the Conker: Bad fur day!

Posted: June 15, 2009 3:04 PM | Reply | Report

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lombob

or bring back killer instinct

Posted: June 15, 2009 3:12 PM | Reply | Report

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r_pad

@IcemanMX To be fair, Rare had several other games that were good to great. That was then though.

@dotrat1989 I don't think the old Rare will ever be back. That isn't to say that company can't reinvent itself though.

Posted: June 15, 2009 3:12 PM | Reply | Report

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Bunghole3030

All it takes is a couple of great well marketed games to make us forget the past. Making some cool "M" rated games wouldn't kill them either. They have tried hitting the kiddie market on the 360, they need to target the adults.

Posted: June 15, 2009 3:21 PM | Reply | Report

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Bashura

A new Killer Instinct would be a good start

Posted: June 15, 2009 3:30 PM | Reply | Report

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KorwynKU

Or we can just move on to the next gen game developers instead.

Posted: June 15, 2009 3:50 PM | Reply | Report

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DreamingDarklyRobin

I want Power Stone 2, even if Rare didn't make that game, I don't remember.

Posted: June 15, 2009 4:02 PM | Reply | Report

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1mikeg

Is Molyneux really the most qualified for the job? Seems to me he's more of an expert at over promising rather than developing genuinely fun games. Yes, I went there.

Posted: June 15, 2009 4:02 PM | Reply | Report

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Scottydsntknow

how about some news on perfect dark 2 and killer instinct 3?

Posted: June 15, 2009 4:11 PM | Reply | Report

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r_pad

@KorwynKU It seems like Microsoft is determined to show that spending $375 million on Rare wasn't a waste.

@1mikeg A lot of people I know agree with you about his "over promising", though a few I know don't. Either way, he excels at generating hype for his products and himself. At the very least, Rare could use some hype.

Posted: June 15, 2009 4:11 PM | Reply | Report

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IcemanMX

Mr. Padilla;

I will give you Perfect Dark (N64) and Conker's Bad Fur Day. If you go on to say Banjo Kazooie and Killer Instinct, I would say those are debatable. What else do you have?

-M

Posted: June 15, 2009 4:34 PM | Reply | Report

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Bossmoonpie117

I would say that if they are as steeped in this new technological venture as they seem to be, and are able to really get themselves familiar with the technology firsthand and have enough time to build an entire game around it from the ground up with little to no time constraint, we could see an amazing showing from Rare. We know that they can do it...we've seen it done before....they just need to take a chance and build something unbelievable from this new controller-free gaming experience. I think the potential is limitless and if they can get to know it forwards and backwards we could see a return to Rare's glory days.
-tha pie

Posted: June 15, 2009 6:25 PM | Reply | Report

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r_pad

@IcemanMX Both Banjo and KI have pretty large followings. It doesn't matter if you say they're debatable. The respective fan bases say they're superior to Rare's recent products.

Posted: June 15, 2009 6:53 PM | Reply | Report

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blasphemous

well I dont think that Rare needs this idiot. Viva Pinata and Kameo were fantastic compared to the garbage that was Fable 2, way to screw the pooch on that one Xplay.

Posted: June 15, 2009 7:24 PM | Reply | Report

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BoomstickSaint

I would like to see Rare buy its way out of Microsoft servitude and make games for all consoles. I would love to see a new Perfect Dark game that was actually good. I was gonna say a Perfect Dark MMO, but Sony is already making it...The Agency.
Also, with the release of SF IV and the seeming return of the fighting game Killer Instinct would make sense. I loved that game back in the day.

Posted: June 15, 2009 7:54 PM | Reply | Report

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RedRingsOfDeath

how about making a banjo kazzoie game that was like one and two, man thoses were good game, i spent my childhood playing those games, i like the 3rd one but it just wasnt right...big phalure for Rare there.... hopefully Peter Molyneux can pull this off, i would love to see this done.

Posted: June 15, 2009 8:25 PM | Reply | Report

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Calaban007

I don't care, I just wish they'd release Goldeneye and Perfect Dark on the Wii's Virtual Console.

Posted: June 15, 2009 8:30 PM | Reply | Report

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