Banjo Kazooie, NXE avatar maker and Microsoft-owned studio, Rare is under review by its parent company. That review could lead to redundancies it was confirmed today.
The review will concentrate on three areas said a Microsoft statement.
"1) Expand the Xbox 360 customer base by delivering experiences that allow our customers to interact with our content in new and innovative ways.
"2) Better support efforts to extend the appeal of Xbox LIVE as a social entertainment network to drive greater adoption across the Xbox 360 customer base.
"3) Continue delivering AAA gaming experiences that excite both our current and future customers".
Following Nintendo's recent statement that it managed to make up for other industry shortcomings, Microsoft's description of what it is intending to do at Rare makes an equally messianic claim:
"As we restructure to successfully execute against our shared strategy within this framework, we will be implementing a new approach to current projects in the pipeline that could serve as an industry-wide model for how to achieve a more efficient and scalable development process."
We've contacted Rare for comment. We would not expect to hear much more in regard to this over and above studio head, Matt Bettridge's official mirror of the mainline: "As the entire industry struggles to address the increasing scale and cost of development, we too have felt a need to restructure our current approach..." You can read the full quote over at Develop.
The review will concentrate on three areas said a Microsoft statement.
"1) Expand the Xbox 360 customer base by delivering experiences that allow our customers to interact with our content in new and innovative ways.
"2) Better support efforts to extend the appeal of Xbox LIVE as a social entertainment network to drive greater adoption across the Xbox 360 customer base.
"3) Continue delivering AAA gaming experiences that excite both our current and future customers".
Following Nintendo's recent statement that it managed to make up for other industry shortcomings, Microsoft's description of what it is intending to do at Rare makes an equally messianic claim:
"As we restructure to successfully execute against our shared strategy within this framework, we will be implementing a new approach to current projects in the pipeline that could serve as an industry-wide model for how to achieve a more efficient and scalable development process."
We've contacted Rare for comment. We would not expect to hear much more in regard to this over and above studio head, Matt Bettridge's official mirror of the mainline: "As the entire industry struggles to address the increasing scale and cost of development, we too have felt a need to restructure our current approach..." You can read the full quote over at Develop.
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Comments
Andy P 17 Feb 2009 22:10
1/2
I think you'll find that's "Studio Head Mark Betteridge".
SuperSaiyan4 19 Feb 2009 08:54
2/2
Rare was always a bad purchase in my opinion to this very day Rare has not made even 1 AAA title or had a huge number of sales like some other games out. I have said it before and I will say it again Microsoft only bought Rare to spite Nintendo.
I think its unfair to made Rare employees redundant as what if all are layed off? What happens to the name Rare?
Microsoft do need to be careful though if they lay the staff off Nintendo will definently buy them up and I think that might even be a good thing as Rare will in my opinion be better suited for making top games for the Wii.
I think its unfair to made Rare employees redundant as what if all are layed off? What happens to the name Rare?
Microsoft do need to be careful though if they lay the staff off Nintendo will definently buy them up and I think that might even be a good thing as Rare will in my opinion be better suited for making top games for the Wii.