 | |
 Headquarters in Twycross | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Predecessor | Ultimate Play the Game |
| Founded | 1985; 40 years ago (1985) |
| Founders | |
| Headquarters | , England |
Key people |
|
| Products | List of video games developed by Rare |
Number of employees | 200+ (2020) |
| Parent | Xbox Game Studios (2002–present) |
| Website | rare.co.uk |
Rare Limited is a Britishvideo game developer and a studio ofXbox Game Studios based inTwycross,Leicestershire.Rare's games span theplatform,first-person shooter,action-adventure,fighting, andracing genres. Its most popular games include theBattletoads,Donkey Kong, andBanjo-Kazooie series, as well as games likeGoldenEye 007 (1997),Perfect Dark (2000),Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001),Viva Piñata (2006), andSea of Thieves (2018).
Tim and Chris Stamper, who also foundedUltimate Play the Game, established Rare in 1985. During its early years, Rare was backed by a generous budget fromNintendo, primarily concentrated onNintendo Entertainment System (NES) games. During this time, Rare created successful games such asWizards & Warriors (1987),R.C. Pro-Am (1988), andBattletoads (1991). Rare became a prominentsecond-party developer for Nintendo, which came to own a large minority stake in the company, with the release ofDonkey Kong Country (1994). Throughout the 1990s, Rare started selling their games under the trademark name "Rareware" and received international recognition and critical acclaim for games such as theDonkey Kong Country trilogy (1994-1996),Killer Instinct (1994),GoldenEye 007,Banjo-Kazooie (1998),Perfect Dark (2000), andConker's Bad Fur Day (2001).
In 2002,Microsoft bought Rare, which retained its original brand, logo, and mostintellectual properties. Rare has since focused on developing games exclusively for theXbox series of consoles, includingGrabbed by the Ghoulies (2003),Kameo (2005),Perfect Dark Zero (2005), andViva Piñata (2006). In 2007, the Stampers left Rare to pursue other opportunities and, in 2010, the company's focus shifted to theXbox Live Avatar andKinect, releasing threeKinect Sports games. In 2015, Rare developedRare Replay, anXbox One-exclusive compilation containing 30 of its games to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Rare's latest game,Battletoads, was released in 2020.
Several former Rare employees have formed their own companies, such asFree Radical Design, best known for producing theTimeSplitters series, andPlaytonic Games, best known forYooka-Laylee (2017). Rare is widely acknowledged in the video game industry and has received numerous accolades from critics and journalists. Rare is also known as a secretive and seclusive studio. Several Rare games, such asDonkey Kong Country andGoldenEye 007, have been cited as amongthe greatest and most influential games of all time, though many fans and former employees have been critical of the company's output under Microsoft.
Rare evolved from the companyUltimate Play the Game, which was founded inAshby-de-la-Zouch,Leicestershire by formerarcade game developersTim and Chris Stamper.[1] After multiple critically and commercially successful releases includingJetpac,Atic Atac,Sabre Wulf, andKnight Lore, Ultimate Play The Game was one of the biggest UK-based video game development companies.[2] TheZX Spectrumhome computer, the platform the company usually developed games for, was only popular in the UK, and they believed that working on that platform would not be beneficial to the company's growth as they considered it a "dead end".[1][2][3] Meanwhile, the company inspected an imported console from Japan,Nintendo'sFamicom, and believed that it would be an ideal future platform of choice for the company as it was more sophisticated than the Spectrum, it had a worldwide market, and its cartridges had no load times.[4] As a result, Rare was established in 1985.[5] Its main goal was toreverse-engineer the console and investigate the codes for Famicom's games to learn more about the console's programming.[1] With successful results, the company decided to sell the Ultimate brand toU.S. Gold, and ceased game development for the ZX Spectrum in the following year.[2]
Nintendo claimed that it was impossible to reverse engineer the console.[2] Using the information the Ultimate Play the Game team acquired from Rare, the team prepared severaltech demos and showed them to Nintendo executiveMinoru Arakawa inKyoto.[1][5] Impressed with their efforts, Nintendo decided to grant the Ultimate Play the Game team an unlimited budget for them to work on games for the Famicom platform.[1] After they returned to England, they moved from Ashby-de-la-Zouch toTwycross, and established a new studio through Rare. They set their headquarters in a Manor Farmhouse.[5] Rare also set up another company known as Rare, Inc., inMiami, Florida. Headed by Joel Hochberg, the American company was involved in maintaining Rare's operation in the US and contacting major US publishers.[5] Hochberg was previously the vice president of American arcade manufacturerCenturi.[6] The Famicom was eventually released in North America and Europe under the nameNintendo Entertainment System (NES).[2]
My goal at Rare was to bring products that you wouldn't see for six to eight years and make it available as soon as possible.
With the unlimited budget, Rare could work a large variety of different games.[1] The first project Rare worked on wasSlalom, a downhill skiing game.[8] The company then worked with various gaming publishers that includedTradewest,Acclaim Entertainment,Electronic Arts,Sega,Mindscape, andGametek[3] to produce sixty games over a five-year period, forty-seven of which were for the NES, while the rest were conversions for theGame Boy andSega Genesis.[1][8] They helped in creating new and originalintellectual properties, includingR.C. Pro-Am, a racing game withvehicular combat elements,[8] andSnake Rattle 'n' Roll, an actionplatform game with Tim Stamper developing the game's graphics.[9] Rare also developedBattletoads, abeat'em up inspired by theTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise.[1] The game became known for its extreme difficulty, and upon seeing success, publisherTradewest published multipleports for the game, and tasked Rare to develop sequels. Tradewest also gave their ownDouble Dragon licence to Rare, allowing them to develop a crossover game between the two franchises. Rare released threeBattletoads games in 1993, includingBattletoads / Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team,Battletoads in Ragnarok's World andBattletoads in Battlemaniacs. ThelastBattletoads game from that era was released for thearcade in 1994.[10] SeveralBattletoads games were also ported to someSega's systems like theMega Drive/Genesis.[11] Rare worked on licensed properties such asA Nightmare on Elm Street andHollywood Squares, andports includingMarble Madness,Narc, andSid Meier's Pirates!.[1]
The development of four of Rare's games were outsourced toManchester-based Zippo Games, includingWizards & Warriors and the third instalment of theJetpac series,Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warship.[11] Rare eventually acquired Zippo Games and renamed them to Rare Manchester.[2] According to Ste Pickford, a Rare team member through the late 80s and the early 90s, Rare just "wanted to make as many games as they could in their 'window of opportunity'".[12] The huge library of games made large profits, but none became a critical success for the company while less creativity and innovation were shown in them.[1]
When theSuper Nintendo Entertainment System was conceived, Rare was not yet ready for the change. Rare limited their releases to someBattletoads games and decided to invest their significant NES profit in purchasing expensiveSilicon Graphics workstations to makethree-dimensional models. This move made Rare the most technologically advanced developer in the UK, and situated them high in the international market.[1] Their priority also changed at that time, as the team decided to focus on quality instead of quantity.[13]
Rare, using theSGI systems, created a boxinggame demo and presented it to Nintendo.[13] As the SNES at that time could not render all of the SGI graphics at once, Rare used the SGI graphics to produce 3D models and graphics, before pre-rendering these graphics onto the cartridge of the SNES system,[13] a process known as "Advanced Computer Modelling".[5] Their progress with the 3D graphics on the SGI systems impressed Nintendo, and in 1994, Nintendo bought a 25% stake in the company that gradually increased to 49%, making Rare asecond-party developer for Nintendo.[1] Rare maintained autonomous operations, green-lighting and designing projects without significant involvement from Nintendo.[14]
During this period, Rare started selling their games under thetrademark name "Rareware". The company was considered one of Nintendo's key developers and had enough recognition that Nintendo offered Rare the Nintendo catalogue of characters to create a 3DCGI game.[1] The Stampers asked forDonkey Kong. The resulting game wasDonkey Kong Country, which was developed by a total of 20 people and enjoyed an 18-monthdevelopment cycle.[15] Rare staff also visitedTwycross Zoo, observing and videotaping real gorillas.[15][16] The game was a critical success, with critics praising the game's highly advanced visuals and artstyle.[13]Donkey Kong Country sold over nine million copies worldwide, making it the thirdbest-selling game in the SNES library.[1] The game received severalGame of the Year honours and was followed by two sequels,Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest andDonkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, as well as several handheld spin-offs such as theDonkey Kong Land series.[1]
Nintendo's stake purchase allowed Rare to expand significantly. The number of staff members increased from 84 to 250, and Rare moved out from their headquarters at the Manor Farmhouse.[5] Rare also developed a CGI arcadefighting game,Killer Instinct, on their own custom-builtarcade machine.[1]Killer Instinct was set to be released for Nintendo's own64-bit system, theNintendo 64 in 1995, but was forced to release the game for the16-bit SNES system, and had to downgrade the game's graphics.Killer Instinct sold 3.2 million copies, and was followed by a sequel,Killer Instinct 2.[17]Killer Instinct Gold, the console version ofKiller Instinct 2, suffered from a graphical downgrade due to the compression technology used to fit the arcade version onto the smaller Nintendo 64 cartridge.[3]
Rare then developedBlast Corps for theNintendo 64. The game sold one million copies, which was considered disappointing by Rare.[18] At that time, Rare was split into several teams, working on different projects. A large-scaled platformer was set to be released afterwards but was delayed. As a result, Rare changed their schedule and released their smaller projects first. The first project wasGoldenEye 007, a game based on theJames Bond filmGoldenEye. The project was led byMartin Hollis and development was conducted by an inexperienced team.[19] Inspired bySega'sVirtua Cop,Goldeneye 007 had originally been anon-rails shooter before the team decided to expand the gameplay and turn it into a free-roamingfirst-person shooter. New elements, such asstealth,headshot mechanics andreloading, were introduced. Asplit-screen multiplayer was added to the game by the end of its development.GoldenEye 007 was the first consolefirst-person shooter developed by Rare and it was released two years after the release of the film. The game received critical praise and received numerous awards.Goldeneye 007 remained one of the best-selling games for two years, and sold more than eight million units worldwide.[1]
Rare then developedDiddy Kong Racing, their first self-published game.[5] Originally intended as areal-time strategy game involving cavemen, the game was re-imagined into aracing game prior to its release in 1997. It was one of the fastest selling games at the time, as recorded byThe Guinness Book of Records.[1]Diddy Kong Racing also features protagonists from some future Rare games, includingBanjo andConker.[8] At the time, Rare was still working on the large-scale platform game. Originally codenamedDream: Land of Giants, it was a game featuring a young boy named Edison and pirates.[20] The protagonist was then replaced by a bear known as Banjo, and Rare expanded the role ofKazooie the bird. The two characters were inspired by characters fromDisney films and Rare hoped that they could appeal to a younger audience.[21]Banjo-Kazooie was released in June 1998 to critical acclaim. A sequel,Banjo-Tooie, was released in 2000.[1] It was a critical success and it outsold the first game, selling 3 million copies.[22]
Upon the completion ofBanjo-Kazooie's development, Hollis immediately began another project.[23] Originally set to be a tie-in forTomorrow Never Dies, Rare was significantly outbid by another publisher, forcing Rare to develop a new concept with new characters.[24] With a major emphasis on lighting, the game was namedPerfect Dark. Hollis left Rare for Nintendo 14 months after the start ofPerfect Dark's development. Around the same time, numerous employees left the company and formed new studios. With major project leads departing, a new team took over its development and diminished the role of lighting in the game, making it a more straightforward first-person shooter.[1][25] The game's troubled development did not affect the progress of Rare's other teams. WhenPerfect Dark was still in development, Rare released two other games,Jet Force Gemini andDonkey Kong 64. In 1999, Nintendo signed an agreement withDisney, and assigned Rare to develop several racing and adventure games featuringMickey Mouse. The project later becameMickey's Speedway USA andMickey's Racing Adventure.[5]Perfect Dark eventually resurfaced and it was released in 2000 to critical acclaim. The game sold approximately 2 million copies.[26]
Conker the Squirrel also had his own game, originally namedConker's Quest. It was later renamedTwelve Tales: Conker 64; however, the new game was criticized for being too family-friendly and its similar gameplay toBanjo-Kazooie.[27] As a result, the team renamed the gameConker's Bad Fur Day and it was re-revealed in 2000.Conker's Bad Fur Day, unlikeBanjo-Kazooie, was intended for a mature audience, and featuresviolence,profanity andscatological humour.[5] The game received positive reviews from critics, but was a commercial failure as the game was released at the end of the Nintendo 64's life cycle and was not actively promoted by Nintendo due to its crude content.[1]
After the completion ofDiddy Kong Racing, another team was working on a new game known asDinosaur Planet for the Nintendo 64.[28] However, Nintendo Senior Managing DirectorShigeru Miyamoto suggested the team redesign the game as part of theStar Fox series for Nintendo's new console, theGameCube.[29] Unlike previousStar Fox games,Star Fox Adventures focuses on ground-based,open world exploration. The game received positive reviews upon its launch in 2002.[26]Star Fox Adventures was the only game developed by Rare for the GameCube.[29]
Game development costs gradually increased,[7][30] and Nintendo did not provide Rare with more capital nor did they purchase the company's remaining stake. The Stampers were surprised that Nintendo did not directly acquire the studio.[31] Rare looked for potential buyers.[32] In early 2000, workers fromActivision andMicrosoft began visiting Rare with purchase offers.[33] According to Microsoft'sEd Fries, Nintendo, Activision, and Microsoft then became embroiled in abidding war for ownership of Rare. Rare expressed interest in Activision's offer, but Microsoft offered more money.[34] On 24 September 2002, Microsoft purchased Rare for $375 million (~$623 million in 2024).[35][36] Rare became afirst-party developer for Microsoft'sXbox. Character trademarks from games developed by Rare for Nintendo consoles, such as Conker ofConker's Bad Fur Day and Banjo of theBanjo-Kazooie series, were retained by Rare; intellectual property created by Nintendo, such asDonkey Kong andStar Fox, were retained by Nintendo.[37] This leftDonkey Kong Racing, due for release for the GameCube, unreleased.[1][38] 30 employees left Rare during the transition.[11]
Since Microsoft was not part of the handheld video-game console market, Rare continued to develop games for Nintendohandheld consoles after the acquisition.[39] In August 2003, Rare and Microsoft entered an agreement withTHQ for THQ to publish Rare's games for theGame Boy Advance, includingSabre Wulf, a game based on anUltimate character;Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge, initially intended as aGame Boy Color game,[40] andIt's Mr. Pants!, a puzzle game originally developed asDonkey Kong: Coconut Crackers.[41] January 2005 saw the completion of this deal with the release ofBanjo-Pilot, known asDiddy Kong Pilot before the Microsoft acquisition.[42]
In 2003, Rare released their first Microsoft game,Grabbed by the Ghoulies, a humorous action-adventure game set in a haunted mansion full of supernatural creatures. Originally intended as afree-roaming game, it was significantly streamlined in design and concept to attract a larger, more casual audience. The game received mixed reviews from critics, and was considered Rare's worst and least-popular game.[43] AtE3 2004, Microsoft'sKen Lobb said that Rare had obtainedNintendo DSdevelopment kits and was working on two games for the Nintendo DS. Shortly afterwards, Microsoft issued a statement that the company and its studios had no plans for Nintendo DS development. However, in July 2005, Rare posted job openings for Nintendo DS development on its website and said that it was creating "key" DS games.[44] Only two were ever released, with the first one beingDiddy Kong Racing DS, aremake of theNintendo 64 titleDiddy Kong Racing which was released in February 2007,[45] and the second beingViva Piñata: Pocket Paradise, alife simulation game, released in September 2008.[46]
Rare releasedConker: Live & Reloaded, a remake ofConker's Bad Fur Day, in 2005 with updated graphics and a reworked multiplayer option. The game received generally favourable reviews[47] but, similar toBad Fur Day, was a commercial failure.[30] Xbox successorXbox 360 was released in 2005, and two of itslaunch games were developed by Rare:Perfect Dark Zero andKameo: Elements of Power.Zero, a prequel to the firstPerfect Dark, was originally intended for GameCube before its redesign as an Xbox 360 game. Rare removed several features to meet the game's release deadline in 2005.[48]Kameo: Elements of Power was also intended for the GameCube. A newintellectual property, in it the player charactershape-shifts to solve puzzles. Although both received generally positive reviews from critics and sold more than a million copies,[1] they were considered disappointments.[30]
Yet, so much of the money went towardsGears of War, which is going to sell millions anyway. It was a bit of like, "What about the other franchise?" I think we got left in the wake somewhat.
In 2006, the company releasedViva Piñata, a game involvinggardening. Incorporating elements of several franchises includingThe Sims,Animal Crossing, andHarvest Moon, it was acclaimed as innovative.[8] The game's commercial performance was a disappointment, however, and some Rare team members questioned Microsoft Studios' large marketing budget forGears of War and its relative neglect ofViva Piñata.[49] On 2 January 2007, Rare founders Chris and Tim Stamper left the company to "pursue other opportunities". Former lead designerGregg Mayles became Rare's creative director and Mark Betteridge the company's studio director.[50] That year saw the release ofJetpac Refuelled, a remake ofJetpac forXbox Live Arcade.[1]
Rare unveiled work onXbox Live avatars,Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise (the next game in theViva Piñata series), andBanjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts in 2008. Made by the core team that developed the firstBanjo-Kazooie,[51]Nuts & Bolts received significant criticism from players due to its focus on vehicle construction rather than traditional platforming.[52] Though generally receiving positive reviews, the company's games for Microsoft sold poorly and Microsoft decided to restructure the studio at the end of the decade.[53] In March 2010, Rare opened a new facility at Fazeley Studios inDigbeth,Birmingham.[54] Later that year, Microsoft confirmed that Scott Henson, a developer who had worked on the hardware and software designs of the Xbox 360 console andKinect for Xbox 360, replaced Mark Betteridge as studio manager and announced a focus on Xbox Live avatars.[55] Rare also shifted their focus to Kinect.[56][57] According to Henson, "Kinect will be the main focus for Rare going forwards as it's a very rich canvas. This is just the beginning of an experience that will touch millions of people".[58] Rare's first Kinect project,Kinect Sports, was released in November 2010. Originally titledSports Star, a more-complex sportssimulation game, the game was streamlined into what Microsoft executiveDon Mattrick hoped would be the Kinect equivalent ofWii Sports. According to a former Rare employee, the team was worried about the game during its development because of Kinect's limitations.[57] Its reviews were average,[59] but it was a commercial success, selling three million units by May 2011.[60] Rare andBigPark, another Microsoft studio, collaborated on the development of a sequel,Kinect Sports: Season Two.[57]
In March 2011, Scott Henson announced that Craig Duncan, who had worked onSonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and theColin McRae Rally series, was hired as senior studio director.[61] Simon Woodroffe, who had worked at several studios (includingAdventure Soft,Midway Games,Ubisoft, andSega), became the studio's creative director in April 2012.[62] A Rare property,Killer Instinct, wasrevived in 2013. The company had a supporting role in its development, assisting lead developerDouble Helix Games.[63] Another Rare mascot, Conker, was also featured in another Microsoft game,Project Spark as episodicdownloadable content. Known asConker's Big Reunion, it was cancelled in 2015.[64]
Are they gonna go: Rare is back? And what my answer would be is, Rare has never gone away. We've just changed and made different types of games.
Rare releasedKinect Sports Rivals in 2014. The game was worked on by 150 staff members and a new game engine was developed for it.[65] The game was a commercial failure and following Microsoft's announcement that Kinect would no longer be a priority, about 15 Rare employees were laid off.[66] On 10 February 2015, a group of former Rare employees announced the formation of a new studio,Playtonic Games, and planned a "spiritual successor" to theBanjo-Kazooie franchise titledYooka-Laylee, which was released on 11 April 2017 with mixed reviews.[67] According to Rare composerRobin Beanland, the year 2015 would be significant for the company.[68] AtE3 2015, a new compilation game,Rare Replay celebrating the studio's 30th anniversary, was introduced; it was released in August.[69] The compilation's thirty titles only included games to which Rare owned the intellectual property.[70] Because of this, Rare'soperations director Drew Quakenbush noted it was the reasonGoldenEye 007's absence from the compilation.[71]Rare Replay became the most pre-ordered game shown at E3 that year and received critical acclaim upon launch.[72][73] A new game,Sea of Thieves, a multiplayeradventure game marketed as "The Best Game That Rare Has Ever Made",[74] was introduced at E3 that year.[75] It was delayed at the following year'sconference and was released on 20 March 2018. The game received mixed reviews,[76][77] but was a commercial success; in January 2020, Microsoft declared it the most successful IP it released in theeighth generation, with more than 10 million players.[78] The game was also released on thePlayStation 5, marking it as Rare's first product on aPlayStation console.[79]
Since 2018, Rare has been working withDlala Studios onaBattletoads revival for the Xbox One and Windows, which was eventually released in 2020.[80] Rare would also reconnect with Nintendo in 2019 through the addition of Banjo & Kazooie as playable characters in the crossover fighting gameSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate for theNintendo Switch as well as re-releases of their games onNintendo Switch Online.[81][82] At the X019 event in November 2019, Rare announced it was developingEverwild, an action-adventure game for Windows andXbox Series X/S.[83] As of January 2020, Rare had more than 200 employees, after growing at a consistent pace for five years.[84] On October 14, 2024, Microsoft announced that Duncan will be promoted to head of Xbox Game Studios in November to succeed the outgoing Alan Hartman, with Joe Neate and Jim Horth to succeed him as studio heads.[85]
In July 2025, Microsoft cancelledEverwild amidst significant layoffs in Microsoft divisions; the game's directorGregg Mayles and executive producer Louise O'Connor, both longtime Rare employees, were reported to have left the company.[86][87]
According to Mark Betteridge, one of Rare's main goals is to create games people will find enjoyable rather than just to earn profit.[52] The Stamper brothers gave the team considerable creative freedom, although they would intervene if a product was technically flawed or under-performing. Some employees noted that working for Rare in its early days could be difficult, with staff members allowed 30 minutes for lunch and possibly working more than 60 hours a week. Nintendo worked closely with Rare, and their relationship was described as a "creative partnership" byViva Piñata designer Justin Cook.[32] According to Hansen in 2010, innovation is very important to the company, thus they focus on trying out new technology, such as Xbox 360's Kinect.[88] Historically the company has developed only for video game consoles, never forpersonal computers, with the Stamper brothers citing a preference for working on a stable standard format which is specifically designed for playing games.[14] According to Duncan in 2014, Rare would only develop games that had unique ideas, and will never develop a generic game with their intellectual properties.[65]
Everybody likes to create this narrative that Microsoft are evil, but that's not the case – they were very supportive. I guess there were a few people who have since left who thought: 'I wanted to be working on this game or my pet project, and I didn't get to.' And they've kind of painted a picture that it's all Microsoft's fault.
Ed Fries, head of Microsoft Studios' publishing division at the time of acquisition, said that the company attempted to preserve Rare's culture so its staff could continue feeling that they worked for Rare rather than Microsoft. Rare employees differed about working conditions after the Microsoft acquisition. According toStar Fox Adventures lead engineer Phil Tossell, conditions became more stressful after an "imperceptible" start, and the culture of the two companies began clashing.[89] Tossell said that Microsoft gradually imposed acorporate structure on Rare, including more performance reviews and meetings, to which some Rare members found difficulty in adapting. Some admitted that early changes, such as permitting team members to discuss projects they were not working on and allowing staff members to use the Internet or listen to music during work hours, were beneficial to team morale.[32] Betteridge called the overall change "positive", saying that Microsoft's capital could help Rare develop their projects.[52] Former Rare employee Gavin Price said that some Microsoft executives, such asPhil Spencer, were supportive of the developer.[57]Grant Kirkhope, a former composer at Rare, strongly criticised Microsoft following the acquisition.[90][better source needed] Former Xbox executivePeter Moore voiced his disappointment with Rare's works after the acquisition. He noted that Rare employees were attempting to "recreate the glory years", but their skills had become outdated and were no longer "applicable in today's market".[91] Duncan insisted that there were still a lot of talented people working at Rare, and they will have a "bright future".[65]
Unlike other software developers, Rare acquired a reputation for secrecy; the approach to their office buildings, in Manor Park nearTwycross, was monitored by cameras. The company was internally divided into differentbarns where employees worked exclusively on their group's game.[92][37] According to Tim Stamper,
Rare has a different philosophy. We don't really have much contact with other game development companies and we just do things the way they've evolved. We try to employ people who are great games players and games enthusiasts and they're really interested in seeing the other games we're developing in the company, so it's really a group of games enthusiasts all working together to produce the best games they can – that's Rare.[37]
— Tim Stamper, February 2003Video Games Daily interview
Though normally secretive, Rare allowed several exclusive tours of its studio byfansites Rarenet in 1999,[93] Rare-Extreme in 2004[94] and again in 2009,[95] as well as by the websiteEurogamer in 2006.[96] In 2010, Rare declined an offer by fansite MundoRare to film a documentary about their studios at MundoRare's expense. The film, to celebrate Rare's 25th anniversary, would have been distributed on the internet andXbox Live. Rare refused permission to shoot the film, saying that it was not "on message". MundoRare was shut down, and stated that the site could not support the company's new corporate direction.[89][97][98] Rare's secrecy was criticised byHardcore Gamer's Alex Carlson, as they thought that it made them "disconnected", and prompted them to develop games that "their fans don't want".[38] When Duncan took over as the studio's head, he intended to change the culture of the studio. Rare's office was completely remodeled so as to facilitate idea sharing between team members. The studio also adopted a more open attitude to its community, with the studio inviting fans to take part in the development project of their latest gameSea of Thieves.[92]
In 2025, to celebrate Rare's 40th anniversary, 8BitDo released a limited edition controller forXbox Series X and Series S featuring the Rare logo andSea of Thieves branding.Sea of Thieves also saw the release of a new hat cosmetic in-game.[99]
Beginning in 1997, a number of Rare employees left to establish separate companies. The first of these was Eighth Wonder, underwritten bySony Computer Entertainment Europe. The studio did not produce any games before it closed.[100]
After Martin Hollis left Rare, he joined Nintendo before founding his own companyZoonami, which developedZendoku,Go! Puzzle andBonsai Barber.[101]
SeveralPerfect Dark team members, includingDavid Doak and Steve Ellis, foundedFree Radical Design and created theTimeSplitters series. The studio would be acquired byCrytek and renamedCrytek UK before its 2014 closure, with most of its staff moving toDeep Silver Dambuster Studios.[102][103][104] Deep Silver briefly reestablished Free Radical Design from 2021 to 2023, with original founding members Ellis and Doak heading up the revived studio.[105] Other former Free Radical and Rare staff formed Crash Labs, a studio specialising in developingiOS games.[106]
Two former Rare employees, Alex Zoro and Jonny Ambrose, were among the six co-founders of FreeStyleGames (laterUbisoft Leamington) in 2002, which became known for theGuitar Hero series. After leaving FreeStyleGames, Zoro founded Pixel Toys, while Ambrose left game development to focus on automobile sculptures, starting Ambrose Auto Art.[107][108]
Conker's Bad Fur Day director Chris Seavor founded Gory Detail with Rare employee Shawn Pile. Gory Detail releasedParashoot Stan for mobile devices,[109] as well asThe Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup on Steam.[110][111]
Starfire Studios was founded by four former Rare employees and releasedFusion Genesis, anXbox Live Arcade game published by Microsoft Game Studios.[112] Another group of former Rare employees formed a mobile-game studio, Flippin Pixels.[113]
Former Rare employee Lee Schuneman headedLift London, a Microsoft studio.[114]
Phil Tossell and Jennifer Schneidereit founded Nyamyam and releasedTengami.[115]
Playtonic Games was founded by several former Rare employees in 2014. They are best known for theYooka-Laylee series, with the first game being aspiritual successor toBanjo-Kazooie.[116]
Rare founders Chris and Tim Stamper joined FortuneFish, a mobile game company founded by Tim's son, Joe Stamper.[7] Their first game wasThat Bouncy Thing! The Rubbishiest Game Ever forAndroid.[117]
Chameleon Games was created in 2019 by several ex-Rare developers, including Omar Sawi, Kevin Bayliss, and Richard Vaucher.[118] The studio madeTamarin, a 3D action platformer, forPlayStation 4,Windows,Xbox One, andXbox Series X/S. It is considered aspiritual successor toJet Force Gemini.[119]
Rare has developed a number of video games since its founding, with sales nearing 90 million copies by 2002.[35] The company is best known for itsplatform games, which include theDonkey Kong Country,Banjo-Kazooie, andConker series, and for its Nintendo 64 first-person shootersGoldenEye 007 andPerfect Dark. Rare does not adhere to a few specific video-game genres. They have also developedaction-adventure games, includingStar Fox Adventures andKameo: Elements of Power;fighting games, such as theKiller Instinct series;racing games, such asR.C. Pro-Am andDiddy Kong Racing, andbeat 'em up-shoot 'em up games such asBattletoads andCaptain Skyhawk. Rare's most recent release isSea of Thieves (2018), a pirate-themedopen worldsandbox game forXbox One andWindows 10; the title continues to be supported as alive service game and has since been ported toXbox Series X and Series S andPlayStation 5. The studio also assisted on the development ofBattletoads (2020).
The company has several publicly-known cancelled projects, some of which saw official announcements by either Rare or its publisher prior to their cancellations. These includeDream: Land of Giants, which becameBanjo-Kazooie;[20]Perfect Dark Core, originally the sequel to the firstPerfect Dark;Black Widow, anopen world game that tasks players to control an eight-legged robot;Sundown, which featured a horde-like survival mode;The Fast and the Furriest, a mascot racer;Tailwind, anaction game featuringhelicopters;[120]Urchin, aFable-style game which began development after the completion ofLive & Reloaded;Ordinary Joe;Savannah, a Kinect-based game; Kinect equivalents ofWii Fit andProfessor Layton:[57] a sequel toDiddy Kong Racing;[121] a sequel toKameo: Elements of Power;[122] andEverwild, anaction adventure game withGod game elements.[86]
Rare received numerous awards, includingBAFTA award for "Best UK Developer" for its work onGoldenEye 007.[123] In 1997,Electronic Gaming Monthly named Rare "Most Promising Game Company", citing their high rate of success in putting outkiller apps for the Nintendo 64.[124] Rare was awarded the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Moving Images Award in 2000 for developingPerfect Dark.[125]Tim and Chris Stamper were named as Development Legends in the 2015Develop Industry Excellence Awards.[126] Rare was included asGamasutra's Top 30 Developers of All Time,[127] and was ranked as the 36th best video game maker byIGN.[128] TheHerbert Art Gallery and Museum curated a retrospective of the company's work in 2018.[129]
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