I wonder if switching Rare's status back to making traditional games and the drumming up of excitement for their past franchises necessarily means they'll work on those themselves.
Killer Instinct started happening when Rare was still the designated Kinect driver, but it turned out very successful. If it still holds true that Rare want to look forward and create new games rather than re-tread their steps, something like a Battletoads - if given a traditional revival - could probably be better served in someone else's hands.
There are just so many properties at Rare that don't necessarily need Rare to develop them. Especially if they're looking to be more of the same. That's almost smarter to make a Retro Studios/Metroid Prime style proposition, really.
But for Rare themselves, I think Microsoft had it all wrong when they made them explicitly be the "family/kid" developer initially. I don't think kid games play to kids now anyway, at least not in a way MS need to invest in. I think Rare's games always have an approachability about them, but at Nintendo they were still an ever so slightly more "edgy" alternative. I think they have two games going for them still, and that's a flexibility and somewhat inherent charm, and some IP that really strike a chord with ~25-30 year olds now.
I think it's important that MS don't try to pigeonhole them into filling a "kid demographic", but rather letting them do basically whatever they want. It may not make short term financial sense, but I think it's a great resource for just scoring a lot of points with gamers if Rare just get to make compelling games, whatever that may entail.
And again. As long as quality is kept high, if Rare don't feel excited about making a traditional sequel to an old game, have some sort of back and forth with them and let someone else develop it. People like Killer Instinct thanks to a mix of liking KI from before, and liking KI now because it's a really solid fighting game. I think the same would hold true for a Banjo that someone else does.
Killer Instinct started happening when Rare was still the designated Kinect driver, but it turned out very successful. If it still holds true that Rare want to look forward and create new games rather than re-tread their steps, something like a Battletoads - if given a traditional revival - could probably be better served in someone else's hands.
There are just so many properties at Rare that don't necessarily need Rare to develop them. Especially if they're looking to be more of the same. That's almost smarter to make a Retro Studios/Metroid Prime style proposition, really.
But for Rare themselves, I think Microsoft had it all wrong when they made them explicitly be the "family/kid" developer initially. I don't think kid games play to kids now anyway, at least not in a way MS need to invest in. I think Rare's games always have an approachability about them, but at Nintendo they were still an ever so slightly more "edgy" alternative. I think they have two games going for them still, and that's a flexibility and somewhat inherent charm, and some IP that really strike a chord with ~25-30 year olds now.
I think it's important that MS don't try to pigeonhole them into filling a "kid demographic", but rather letting them do basically whatever they want. It may not make short term financial sense, but I think it's a great resource for just scoring a lot of points with gamers if Rare just get to make compelling games, whatever that may entail.
And again. As long as quality is kept high, if Rare don't feel excited about making a traditional sequel to an old game, have some sort of back and forth with them and let someone else develop it. People like Killer Instinct thanks to a mix of liking KI from before, and liking KI now because it's a really solid fighting game. I think the same would hold true for a Banjo that someone else does.
