It seems like Microsoft has plans for some of the classic Rare franchises that have been neglected over time.
The teasing came via Microsoft Studios creative director, Ken Lobb, who let the news slip on the Inner Circle podcast. According to Lobb, the company is planning to resurrect some iconic Rare series in the future:
“Will there ever be another Banjo, Viva, Blast Corps, Battletoads? Yeah, someday. We know there’s value. We have a lot of passion internally for each of the games. And we have surprises in store in the near and long future.”
Ken made some clarifications, stating that Microsoft is looking to expand the company’s roster of IPs, specifically looking at the older catalogue of beloved Rare franchises:
“Understand that what it’s really about is we want to build this suite of IP [Intellectual Property] that we can add to a list of, ‘let’s build some new things, let’s build some recent sequels, and let’s do some crazy stuff like dig back into our portfolio of IP and build some games that people love.'”
It’s worth noting that Microsoft filed a trademark for Battletoads back in November of last year. Could we be seeing a remake of the brawler platformer?
ConnorORT
January 12, 2015 at 5:02 pmNUTS AND BOLTS 2 OH GOD YESn…nn…n;_;
Guest
January 12, 2015 at 5:05 pmYou can’t make me hope, I won’t do it anymore
Fenrir007
January 12, 2015 at 5:31 pmOh boy I can’t wait to punch the air in Battletoads: Kinect!
Neojames82
January 12, 2015 at 5:39 pmThe only hope that any of these Rare game will be any good is to NOT have it be developed by Rare themselves. We all know all the talent that made them famous have left long ago. With KI being developed by an outsider instead of Rare was a pretty smart move and it will probably be best for the other franchises.
sanic
January 12, 2015 at 5:48 pmConflict amphibians remake with the option to play 99 cents for another continue?
Robert___T
January 12, 2015 at 6:29 pmMore “Jet Force Gemini” please??
Thanatos2k
January 12, 2015 at 6:54 pmYeah, “someday.”nnWho even cares, you can probably count the people working there now who worked on Goldeneye or Banjo Kazooie on one hand. Rare is a front, a name slapped onto a studio that has nothing to do with the games they used to make.
Koroma
January 12, 2015 at 7:07 pmTo truly be a battletoads game. Kinect should require you to punch your friends in real life.
Neojames82
January 12, 2015 at 7:56 pmMost like you zero hands because its more like zero of them are left now XD
Softclocks
January 12, 2015 at 9:52 pmLaptop gun’s making a return!
DynastyStar
January 12, 2015 at 10:34 pmthe puffy is “Laptop gun”??????
DynastyStar
January 12, 2015 at 10:37 pmI think the thing that I’d hope to come out of this if I actually owned an xbox is a remake of Jet Force Gemini. The controls for that game are so dated, and I’m sure it could benefit from some revamping in other areas(not ala Conker’s Bad Fur Day in aesthetic).
DynastyStar
January 12, 2015 at 10:43 pmyou can do it :3 hopeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
JCTXS
January 12, 2015 at 11:11 pmI think Rare has destroyed Banjo and PD enough as it is. It only took them 1 game too!nI have no hopes in either franchise coming back.
FailedSurgery
January 12, 2015 at 11:30 pmI hope they replay Goldeneye and Og perfect dark and remember what made those games great. nnA time when FPS weren’t just coridoors, they didn’t have quicktime events or padded unskippable gameplay cutscenes. There were no objective markers, and rarely were levels linear. What happened to open ended level design. I want to be given objectives and told to figure it out. Remember figuring it out? remember having to switch between gadgets? remember gadgets? remember variety? Remember when playing on higher difficulties you would be task at doing completely new objectives? Remember actually feeling like a spy? What do we even have now? Walking simulators. why has game design devolved so much in the past decade? nnThen we’re given PDZero & Goldeneye Reloaded both critically acclaimed for some god damn reason while being absolute garbage, nnthis is unacceptable. We shouldn’t allow our standard of quality to drop just because of shiny new graphics.
Thanatos2k
January 13, 2015 at 12:01 amKen Lobb is one of them though.
Neojames82
January 13, 2015 at 12:04 amTouche. I am surprised he is still there. Though honestly he isn’t anything more than a mouthpiece at this point and probably has almost zero involvement in actual game development.
Neojames82
January 13, 2015 at 12:08 amBeautifully said. I have to say this is how I feel about these games and how FPS has seem to have taken HUGE step backwards. Goldeneye and Perfect Dark have in my eyes, the perfect balance of how to do both great single player as well as great multiplayer. nnnSadly, with a lot of modern FPS the single player is almost tacked on and not even given much thought for the sake of online multiplayer and even that has become pretty crappy. I hope that one day, I or someone like me, can truly make a great spiritual successor to my favorite FPS games.
Thanatos2k
January 13, 2015 at 12:22 amHe only ended up there by coincidence. After he left Rare 10+ years ago he joined Microsoft…..
Neojames82
January 13, 2015 at 12:32 amWow…that is weird XD
landlock
January 13, 2015 at 2:37 amThat’s fine I’d prefer someone else have a crack at Perfect Dark anyway.
Fenrir007
January 13, 2015 at 2:54 pmHopefully they will cover the naughty bits of the Dark Queen in the next Combat Frogs. We don’t wanna offend any people, after all.
Thanatos2k
January 13, 2015 at 3:15 pmThey already did. It was called Perfect Dark Zero and it sucked!
landlock
January 14, 2015 at 2:31 amThat was not someone else though, that was still Rare.