N'Gai Croal
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May 17, 2007 02:15 PM
Peter Moore (back row, third from left) and his 1974 Yale High School Division I National Championship soccer team
In Part II of our four-part Q&A with with Microsoft entertainment and devices corporate vice president Peter Moore,
we debated the timing and impact (or lack therof) of the $299 Xbox 360
Core with early adopters. Today, in Part III, Moore discusses the
implications of the then-recent announcement that the founders of the Microsoft-owned developer Rare
were leaving the company (as we've previously stated, this interview
was conducted in January of 2007), explains the kinds of games he
envisions the studio making in the future and talks about why Microsoft
is absolutely comfortable with Rare's perverse sensibility.
What should we make of the Stampers' departure from Rare?
Nothing. Chris and Tim have been tremendously loyal to Microsoft
since the acquisition of the company. They've been behind everything we
continue to do. Certainly Viva Pinata, both of them were instrumental in their own way of getting Viva Pinata up and running. Their legacy will live on with Banjo-Kazooie.
The time had come after many, many years of service to Rare that the
founders move on and do something different. We wish them nothing but
the best. They've put us in great position with Gregg Mayles and Mark
Betteridge to come in and step up. Betteridge in particular has been
there 19 years, and it's great that we can have somebody with Mark's
background in the company be able to step into the shoes. Nothing to be
made of it whatsoever.
I asked Phil Harrison about Rare--
I saw that.
--and why they were having trouble regaining former glory. They
used to put out games that were five million unit sellers, seven
million unit sellers, much higher Metacritic ratings than where they're
at. He said that he felt that they were a company that was always prone
to insularity; got moreso with Nintendo, and then maybe got a little
defocused by the windfall that they got from Microsoft. Perfect Dark Zero certainly got good reviews when it came out--very good reviews, though not GoldenEye-level, but good reviews--
Yeah.
But in hindsight, there are a lot of people saying, "Maybe we scored it too high." Hindsight's 20-20--
The same people who scored Kameo too low. But that's a personal opinion. [Laughs.] So that's fine. It all washes out in the end.
Viva Pinata is certainly a return to form according to reviewers. There are a lot of people who are very passionate about it.
Absolutely, yeah.
But sales aren't there, considering that Microsoft spent $375 million to buy Rare.
On the balance sheet, that's already been written off, for sure. But
how do you start to earn out on that investment? What's the plan for
Rare in the future? Where do they fit in and what are they going to do
for the company in order to deliver the hits that they were presumably
purchased to make?
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