Today, Eurogamer released their interview with Corporate Vice President of Microsoft, Phil Harrison. In the interview, Harrison talked about the state of Rare Ltd, as well as, the future of the storied studio. For those who do not know, Rare in the 90s worked with Nintendo developing Goldeneye 007, Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark and other Nintendo 64 classics, but was later bought by Microsoft in 2002. Since then, the company has released an array of games for the Xbox and Xbox 360; yet over the last five years, the company was put in charge of Kinect-based games.
Now, the state of the studio has been in question since the announcement of the Kinect-less Xbox One, as well as, May’s report that the studio has laid off employees. But according to Harrison, Rare is not in any sort of danger: “I’m very happy to go on record to alleviate any of those concerns you might have…We are very fortunate in having Rare and Lionhead in the UK as crown jewels of Microsoft Studios.” On top of this, Harrison dangled a carrot in front of fans, stating that Rare is developing new products.
Phil Harrison
“Rare is working on a couple of things at the moment, which we will announce at the right time. But I’m really excited by the things they’re doing and I believe you will be as well when you hear about them. Rare is an incredible talent and they have some very very ambitious plans for the future and we’re supporting them in every way we can.”
Though this basically re-states what studio head Craig Duncan told Eurogamer in March, at least the general public gets some sort of comfort from a Microsoft executive. The only thing that has not been stated is if these projects will be Kinect-based. I for one, hope that Microsoft gives Rare the freedom to create whatever they want; but that possibility looks slim at the moment.
Either way, expect to hear more from Microsoft or Rare in the future. What do you think of Harrison’s statements? Are you happy with Rare’s products in the last few years? Let us know in the comment section below. And for all updates, continue to read Gamer Headlines.