Stamper Bros Quit Rare

Two decades after forming the studio, the brothers have called it quits at the now-Microsoft-owned company.

Attention Whore Notice: Kikizo is one of the very few game magazines or websites ever to have interviewed the highly elusive Stamper brothers. Speaking right after the acquisition of their company by Microsoft, the duo sat down with us in this exclusive video interview in 2002.

Microsoft has taken a lot of heat for its purchase of UK-based developer Rare just over four years ago. The company spent $375 million to bring the previously Nintendo-loyal creator of such hits as Donkey Kong Country and GoldenEye to its side, but the years have gone by without a major success. This week Microsoft said that Chris and Tim Stamper, two of Rare' s founders, had left the company.

" Chris and Tim have helped shape Rare into the world-renowned development studio that is it today and their impact on the videogame industry as a whole is well known," reads a statement from Microsoft reported at 1Up. " They are simply leaving to pursue other opportunities and we wish them luck in their future endeavours."

In the four years that Rare has been under Microsoft' s wing, the company has pumped out a string of games that suffered development turmoil, most of which switched platforms along the way - sometimes more than once.

Rare played a big part in the launch of the Xbox 360 with shooter Perfect Dark Zero. Most recently the company put out the kid-friendly Viva Piñata for the system, but despite praise from a once-sceptical critical audience the game got lost in the Christmas shuffle and suffered poor sales.

Alex Wollenschlaeger
Editor, Kikizo

KIKIZO

Viva Pinata bombing has obviously caused this.

**wonders whether Viva Pinata Racing was also a contributing factor**

Rare better not screw up Banjoe 3, ...and i still want Killer Instinct 3!!!

It' s funny how every MS employ claim their fav game this year was VIVA PINATA.

Eietgher their gametaste suck,or they lie to make people buy it.

With that said,a intresting thing i noticed was when i was on gamerscoreblog.com
it' s the site where xbox360 employers talks out,and their pr site,which is basically the sister site to Majornelson.com

There one of them wrote why more people didnt buy viva pinata or play it?
And if it was because they wanna hide from other that they had it or not.
SO i asked them if they asked that if the game had bombed and they got angry at me for accusing them of making something big out of that news.

So yes i would guess it bombed with that said,it was supposed to be a Kid game,so with that said,who here expected good sales anyway?
Ofc MS mayby had high hopes hardcore games would get it,but the gameplay fags are at wii not 360.-

There was a time when a Rare game was guaranteed to sell and even shift consoles. That was when they were Nintendo 1st party. I liked Kameo but it was way to short and didn' t fulfill expectations, and PDZ was atrocious. I liked Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Conker: Live & Reloaded but Viva Pinata just doesn' t appeal. Banjoe needs to set things straight otherwise i' ll be inclined to claim Microsoft paid over the odds for a second rate developer.

Pdz and kameo was first GC titles,then rushed to the xbox and then rushed again for the 360.
They need time to think what to do now,and do it good.

I wonder whether Diddy Kong Racing DS will recoup money lost though Viva Pinata.

Diddy kong racing was a classic.

Damn i loved that game much :)

I think your right Majik M$ did pay over the odds, to acquire Rare, however from all the buzz surround Banjoe it is supposed bring Rare back to where they were, how true this is only time will tell, there is a good interview in OXM360 either Nov or Oct issue.

Nope,he isnt nor is you.
Rare came from a company with games under deb,but coudlnt adjust to the Xbox befoe 360 was out,then they had to dev for 360.

As i said before viva pinata and their next installment is what counts.
You guys can trash Viva pinata how much you want,its was made for kids.

Yes kids.

I dont go and trash pokemon which sold 140 million copies,its made for...yes KIDS.
Yes adults can play pokemon adn viva pinata but it wasnät made from the scratchg to suit them.

Oh bullshit! PDZ and Kameo may have been rushed for the 360 launch but it had fuck all to do with the original Xbox. Rare managed to put out Grabbed by the Ghoulies and Conker: Live & Reloaded - a game that is among the best looking and most technologically sound on Microsoft' s original platform.

PDZ sucked ass and should have been delayed. Even then it would have still sucked because the technology being in it' s infancy has nothing to do with the entire game (animations, story, characters etc) being completely retarded. Kameo again was technologically sound and was a much better effort than PDZ, it was just waaaaaaay too linear and way too short. They were rushed for launch, and Kameo is the better game, but Rare putting out the mess that is PDZ is a crime against humanity. For a developer with a previously impeccable reputation to uphold they haven' t been doing themselves any favors.

As for Viva Pinata, ...it was a bad decision to develop a game that doesn' t appeal to your staple audience. The people wanted Banjoe 3 and KI3 and not a gardening game.

They finally realised that Most 360 owners are not into creative games.

Rare better not screw up Banjoe 3, ...and i still want Killer Instinct 3!!!

You really have hopes that it' ll be something amazing?

Now that the Stamper brothers have quit, I don' t think so. Name one company that did better once the founder/founders left.

I can count them off on 0 fingers. This really ticks me off. Best of luck to the Stamper brothers & everything, and hopefully their next endevour will turn out some truly awesome games, but Rare really couldn' t afford this, especially not now.

Once again Quez you come across as a person with no concept of other peoples opinions and also the facts. M$ did pay over the odds.
Pinata is a game aimed at children, why to try and tap into a market that isn' t there yet and quite possibly never will be, it has nothing to do with Pokemon or Yu Gi Ohh or anything like that it is as Majik says a bad decision to try and tap into this market, I know I won' t let my 13 year old or my 10 year old use the 360 and certainly not my 5 year old, they have a PS2 to play and their DS or GB. Not many sane adults with Children will be.

Nintendo were laughing all the way to the bank when they sold Rare. I think Microsoft payed something like 600 million for Rare. For fuck sake, Rare have made more games for the GBA than they have for Microsoft!!

Rare games still generate massive hype though. What i don' t understand is why if Viva bombed so badly then why even consider a Pinata Racing title?! I can understand why Microsoft want to get a younger audience hooked but Viva Pinata was a complete mismanagement of valuable resources and money at a time when a) Rare need to vindicate themselves, and b) Microsoft need killer apps from 1st party studios.

Viva Pinata isn' t BAD game, it' s been scoring highly in reviews across the board. It' s not bad, it' s just wrong. It' s not what Microsoft need Rare doing, they need games like KI3 and Banjoe 3. They need platform games, not god/gardening sims.

Well they didn' t sell Rare they just didn' t renew the option to be exclusive with them, I mean after producing 60 odd titles for them I think they had know that they weren' t going to go anywhere.

Granted they do create hype, however I really don' t see M$ wanting to tap into that market, I am sure that isn' t there a link between M$ and the Pinata TV series though and they have the official licensing for all thing Pinata? Hence the racing title they need to get their money back somehow.

It seems pretty logical from MS point of view to broaden their horizons a bit. I mean, let' s be realistic here. There' s nothing kid friendly on the 360. Tons of good shooters, quite a few good racers, & the odd simulator/RPG. But theres (as far as I know) 3 non-movie based platformers out right now, & less than that are exclusive!

I' m not saying all platformers are for kids, but it certainly gives you an idea of their target audience. It was a good idea done the wrong way in my opinion.

Once again Quez you come across as a person with no concept of other peoples opinions and also the facts

says the guy who writes .

M$ did pay over the odds.

Says who? you.

First of all,without rare,what launch titles would 360 have? you tell me,a PC port of COD2,that works for everyone i guess?

They builed hype up with PDZ ofc,but then again PD is one of the best FPS ever,try and not hype the sequal k?

What gaming company wouldnt do that?

However as i said,you can' t judge PD and Kameo when they was dev for GC,XBox then rushed to 360.

You may point out that squirrel game and grabbed by the ghoulies,sure they came under xbox era,but Conker was basically a updated port,and ask yourself,what team worked on Grabbed by the ghoulies do you think?

The main team or some smaller team in rare?

Or do you think the whole staff stopped with PD and Kameo dev and suddenly it just popped up at launch?
Not easy designing two game at launch,but Rare is huge with a lot of staff members and since they had to think aboutg making two launch titles they couldnt focus on eiether.

Viva Pinata has got ghood scores by sites and was dev for kids in minds,who gives a shit if its sux to you? oh wait mayby you' re a kid ...

Nvm.

With that said i never tried viva pinata nor would i like to review it since it wasnät design for people like me who play action/violent games.

Says who? you.

Says Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rareware

Ok its not 600m but its still alot of money.

The main team or some smaller team in rare?

Does not matter if it was by one member of Rare or by the whole team, it was still made by Rare.

Yes,and?

Look at square.enix i can draw ou 2-3 crap game every year from them.
They made for ex that fighting game i Bonzai something,was the worse cfrap i ever seen.

Didn' t make me think less of them.
But some judge on what they want.