No revisiting old franchises for now, says Rare animator
The means must justify the method
Jet Force Gemini 2, you say? Or perhaps a new Conker adventure? Well, leave it to Rare to stomp your humble dreams into finely-ground dust. According to interview-happy Elissa Miller, the studio would rather concentrate their efforts on new IP rather than mine the past.
“At the moment, probably not,” Miller stated, as the inevitable franchise resurrection question was asked during a feature in 360 Gamer magazine. “We’ve always got to have a reason to revive a franchise; we don’t do games just for the sake of them. We’ve got to have some valid reasons.” Nuts & Bolts is evidence enough for that mantra.
While Miller seems fairly certain concerning Rare’s short-term future, it has to be said that the statement flies in the face of certain sheet music received by yours truly and subsequent investigations by friendly neighbourhood composers Erik Schröder and Chris Tilton. Does this put the KI3 rumours to rest? Maybe, maybe not. Either way, it remains to be seen if this new approach to development manages to be financially sensible, and what is held true today may be old news tomorrow. Definitely something that Rare acknowledges- “We never say never,” Miller teases. “Who knows what will happen in the future?”
Somehow related news
- Franchises touched by Rare grace enter 20 top-selling list ()
- Rare developing… Halo?! ()
- Killer Instinct on Wii? ()
- A Banjo-Fourie would “probably expand” Nuts & Bolts’ concept ()
- Ladies and gentlemen prefer oldies ()
9 Comments
oh well eventually they’ll be back
Comment by saicambanjo — 22.Sep.08 @ 4:36 am
NO! THEY OWE US A WORTHY SEQUEL TO PERFECT DARK! THAT ENOUGH REASON I’D SAY!
Comment by Perfect Dark 0 — 22.Sep.08 @ 3:42 pm dude calm down theres a pause for now but it will come back
Comment by saicambanjo — 23.Sep.08 @ 4:11 am
We’re talking franchise revivals here; something that’s been gone for a loooong time. Perfect Dark only recently got a sequel, so I’d say it’s very much the here and now.
Again, why revive an old franchise when it’ll likely be so different to the originals that hardcore fans won’t accept them? Like Banjo (personally, I think the new Banjo looks very promising, but that’s besides the point). Battletoads, SabreWulf and their ilk are from the late 80’s and early 90’s. How can we not expect them to change if they were to design sequels to those today?
Then again, look at Mega Man 9…
Comment by Rinx — 23.Sep.08 @ 10:07 pm
Giant Bomb only mentioned Tilton, so I wanted to credit properly. Unless I read the comments section completely wrong. 
Does this mean there not working on BK:N&B anymore…pretty sure thats a sequal.
I think its good. Rare has always been the best at origonal IP’s and thats why they devloped such a fan base. You could buy a Rareware game that was totaly new and know it would be good! Certain games do deserve a sequal but others don’t. I mean Jet Force Gemmini…where could that go without being to samey or too different?
Comment by Gregory Keenan — 29.Sep.08 @ 2:38 am Jet Force is the only game I could see benefitting from extra processing power. Jet Force could push more enemies on-screen and all sorts of fancy Space Invaders-style formations, and loads more levels.
Like Jetpak: Refueled. Same game, but more levels and good blasting arcade action.
Comment by Rinx — 01.Oct.08 @ 2:53 am
Banjo-Kazooie, Jet Force Gemini, and Perfect Dark were all new IPs once.
I say go for it. There’s far too many developers relying on old IP to sell games these days, and not enough developers that have it in them to take risks.
People hold Rare to their old IPs too much, and at the same time criticise them for being ’stuck in the past’, or ’stuck in the late 90’s’ (see Moore’s comments as an example). And when Rare does try to match an old IP to a new concept - some would consider more fitting for a new IP - people still aren’t happy (look at Nuts and Bolts).
With that in mind, that’s probably why Rare have decided not to go back to old IP for now. Why? Perhaps they’ve got game concepts they’d like to try out, but no longer feel confident in matching them with old IPs, again, because people - generally, mind you - don’t seem to like that.
Viva Pinata is wonderful; just goes to show what Rare can do currently when they attempt something new. Creating totally new stuff will allow the guys at Rare to move forwards, and hopefully, help them find their place in the hearts of gamers once again.
Go Rare!
Comment by Rinx — 21.Sep.08 @ 8:22 pm