PDZ and Kameo sold “phenomenally well”; Kameo “still selling”
Rare "lucky" to be owned by Microsoft
Nick Burton’s long interview at Videogamer.com continues to make headlines over some tidbits he said. Some more interesting than others, no less.
Admittedly, while Kameo and Perfect Dark may have not sold ridiculous amounts of copies compared to earlier hits, they still sold “phenomenally well”, according to Burton. He states that he finds it funny “when people always quote Kameo and Perfect Dark Zero as being flops at the launch of the 360.” Burton remarked that “in the industry if you break even you’re lucky, you’re in the minority. If you make a decent amount of money you’re really in the minority. You’re in the top percentile. Those two games made a lot of money. For the install base they sold phenomenally well. Kameo is still selling now.”
Considering how cheap both new copies of the games can be bought for, it’s of no surprise.
What also isn’t that much of a surprise is how much Rare enjoys being under Microsoft’s stable. From Grabbed by the Ghoulies to Viva Piñata, it’s apparent that Microsoft has been giving Rare the creative freedom to do as they please since 2002, and Rare’s senior software engineer believes the company “doesn’t suffer from some of the commercial pressure that other developers do.”
Says Burton once more on that subject: “We’re lucky being inside MGS, that our remit is to kind of expand and broaden this demographic and do things that are slightly more out there. In a way we don’t have some of the commercial pressures that some other developers do. We can take a risk now and again. Piñata was a risk and it’s paid off. Would that have come out of another studio? It might have come out of Lionhead maybe. It might have come out of Will Wright, something like that. Spore is fantastic, but massive risk. Of course, nobody thought of the ability to actually make creatures that actually look like they’re several creatures doing something. A sure-fire success without doubt.”
It’s still good to know that Microsoft still lets Rare take risks, which is something fans of the company know and mostly appreciate from as far back as the DKC days. Only time will tell if the new games will be risky moves as well that’ll pay off for the studio.
Somehow related news
- DKR is bigger than the PS3 ()
- Franchises touched by Rare grace enter 20 top-selling list ()
- 100 million copies of “Rareware” ()
- No DLC for Piñata until it becomes a hit ()
- Conker’s Xbox outing is still enjoyed, glitches and all ()
3 Comments
Aslong as they go abck to the style of the origianl perfect dark I’m all for a sequal to PDZ, but to be completely honest PDZ was not worth the wait, the art syle was way to cartoonish for a game that is supposed to be dark, the voice acting was cheesy, the gameplay was more or less terrible, the music was underwhelming in some ways (though I did enjoy most of it), and level and map design was lacking.
PDZ was lacking pretty much in every catagory where the original Perfect Dark had everything it was missing.
Comment by The BS Police — 15.Aug.08 @ 9:31 am
After seeing some of Rare’s concept art (the ones with the witch and the cauldron), I’ve been thinking a game world that’s something like the world of a Discworld novel would be cool.
In fact, I believe there was a Discworld game a while back, and that was a point-and-click adventure. Rare attempting something like that would be really neat. Something with different outcomes depending on how you play.
I feel confident with Rare being steered in new directions by Gregg Mayles and the other guy (forgot the name). Sounds like they’re up for trying lots of stuff outside of what they’ve done in the past.
Comment by SummerSky — 15.Aug.08 @ 4:01 pm
There is only one thing that I wouldn’t mind Microsoft forcing upon Rare, and thats making them develop en new Perfect Dark!
Comment by Perfect Dark 0 — 15.Aug.08 @ 1:20 am