"Rare" Ware
For a long time I’ve been struggling with something to write about, and now that day has finally come. But the sad part be it, this day should never have \come, had not a few things gone amiss in the wide word of gaming.
So what the hell am I talking about? If you follow the world of gaming, you would have heard by now that Rare is indeed gone from the control of Nintendo. In a report seen at both IGN, and LA Times, both stories seem to point to the potential buyer - either Microsoft or Activision. Nintendo had controlling interest in Rare, but gave it up due to Rare’s low contribution to the fiscal years of 2001 and 2002. Rumor has it that a deal was actually made, and that Nintendo received a substantial sum.
However, I’m not here to echo facts which you can read elsewhere, but rather to offer insight and perhaps perspective on a great gaming company, whose rich history goes back to the old Nintendo days, and ask if Nintendo made a mistake that could potentially cripple their backs, or perhaps present more opportunities and fortunes in the near future.
Let’s discuss how this deal could potentially cripple Nintendo’s back. First of all, I don’t see how Nintendo could sacrifice long-term gain for short-term gain. Long term gain is inherent in Japanese business mentality, and the fact that this deal even went through baffles me. Reports conclude that Rare accounted for a somewhat significant 9.5% of Nintendo’s revenues in 2001, and an even lower 1.5% in 2002. That being said, it wasn’t Rare’s fault that they accounted for almost no revenue for Nintendo. Actually, I doubt the Nintendo 64 was even selling in 2001, or that many developers or publishers would even consider developing for the Nintendo 64 a viable business option. Why would Rare even consider making games for a failing system? The Gamecube was still in its “Dolphin” stage during that period, and the Nintendo 64 was in limbo, which left Rare with no game plan.
I guess what I’m getting at is that those statistics don’t justify Nintendo’s reason to selling Rare. Virtually all of Rare’s Nintendo 64 games went on the million-seller list; including notables such as Conker’s Bad Fur Day, which helped to curb Nintendo’s kiddy image by introducing a bad-ass squirrel with attitude, and GoldenEye 007, a game so far ahead of its time that it can still keep up with the notable first person shooters out there today.
Nintendo, who seems to blush at their kiddy image, could have done with an exclusive Conker’s Bad Fur Day 2, undoubtedly their would-be answer to Sony’s GTA 3. This game could have moved Nintendo into a “cool” status with the teenage demographic. Perfect Dark 2 could have been the perfect flagship title to propel Nintendo’s online network, and who knows about future titles? By selling Rare, Nintendo has turned their back on a potential gold mine of games.
Nintendo traditionally has a rather large and illustrious history of screwing their consumers; things like not putting in a back-light for the Gameboy Advance, or by “downgrading” Mortal Kombat for the SNES during the 16-bit era [Editor’s Note: The Sega Genesis “gore” version of Mortal Kombat outsold Nintendo’s “nice” version by a ratio of 3:1]. This seemingly just adds to their legacy.
With all that being said, hopefully I didn’t put you in too bad of a mood! There is, after all, a silver lining to this otherwise desolate cloud, and that silver lining may be the trump card that Nintendo needs to reignite consumer confidence again. This “confidence” comes in the form of the money that Nintendo got from this deal. Why is this money useful? Aside from the obvious reasons…
- It can be used to better fund new games (new franchises perhaps?)
- Can be used to lure/buy other development studios (Sega, for instance, which is rumored to be in negotiations)
So, as you can see, there are potential benefits to be reaped from this otherwise horrible deal!
Rare seemed to be held back by Nintendo. It seemed that they were eyeing other platforms for their games, and I really can’t blame them. Given the current state of online plans, for Rare to be able to do Perfect Dark 2 online, it would make sense for them to do it on Xbox Live, or Sony’s plan. Both seem more stable than Nintendo’s. As well, given Nintendo’s cutesy image, Conkers Bad Fur Day 2 would be surefire hit for Xbox, as well as PS2 owners.
As well, I think Nintendo was investing too much in Rare and not seeing any results. They wanted results sooner, and Rare wasn’t delivering them. It seems that Nintendo would rather not invest into a company that wasn’t bringing forth any profit.
But regardless if some of views may be right or wrong, or if you may disagree with them totally, one thing remains certain…Nintendo Gamecube owners are missing out big time. Rare’s current future seems unknown, and we may see a change of events; perhaps we may see a game or two from Rare on Gamecube! Maybe this could mean a whole new beginning for Rare, and heck, if their future games are as good as I think they’ll be; maybe I’ll have to buy another system not to miss out!