I don't think they have delivered any AAA games yet:-

Perfect Dark Zero - Looks quite nice, quite fun to play, but crap story and horrible jerky cutscenes.
Kameo - I enjoyed this, nice changeable characters and nice looking graphics, think this is Rare's best game on 360 so far, but it is easily overlooked, and a lot of people probably think it is too kiddy.
Viva Pinata Games - Look nice, but become very repetitive
Banjo Kazooie - Interesting premise and looks nice, but becomes boring quick.

So all solid games, but nothing that makes you go wow. So, hopefully this restructuring will help them make a truly great AAA game.

Ofcourse the get paid for it..Its their job..ANd they have to be good at it. neither Sony or Microsoft lose money. Even if a game sells 500000 copies it still makes money when each copy cost 60$ Thats 30 million $

If we really wanna be involved in discussion like these we have to be opened minded. Think of it like your own company. If something doesn't make money you cut it lose or make it better. Thats how business run..thats how to earn money. And we as gamers will be happy to see improvement.

I don't think it comes as any surprise that Rare is being restructured. As much as I love the company it seems like it's been drifting since MS bought it.

I'm not convinced any restructuring will help Rare return to the golden years it had on the SNES and N64, and before that as Ultimate, as the talent and the spark has gone. But if the alternative is to disolve the company or cut it loose I'm happy to hear MS are doing _something_ to try and get them back on track.

The intention is to get Rare focusing on 3 areas "expanding the Xbox 360 audience, developing social content for Xbox Live, and continuing to develop triple-A titles".

That statement says to me rare are going to be producing NXE/Avatar rubbish and maybe throwing out a few average quality games here and there or maybe even focusing mostly on XBLA titles.

Their ouput is too slow and not of high enough quality, and doesn't appeal to it's intended target audience. That's a huge problem. Back in the days of the N64 I waited for every Rare release with huge anticipation and were always a Day 1 purchase.

Here's hoping MS treat them better than Ensemble and the other developers it seems to be p!ssing off recently. I hope Rare bounce back to be a force in game development - I'd love a new Blast Corps and Jet Force Gemini.

tripple A??

I dunno after reading the news, I have a bad feeling that they will go the way of other famous MS studios 8-(. If we look at Ensemble studios they release some very big hits on the PC and the upcoming Halo title will probably sell very well too. I don't think Rare was as successful on the 360, so this make this news even more worry some...

Agree with you there.Its very sad but its all about money.
A company has to make some money.

Believe me if MS didn't show interest and made hard effort to get some 3nd party support they wouldn't be where they are now. Which is really A good spot.
You have to remember that MS are really fresh in this area. So if you see what they have made so far, its really impressive. Making One of the most selling games and most popular HALO Which Broke a good record and made alot of money.Their brand are known now. ANd they are challenging they Giant Sony, Thats not easy believe me. Gears of war did also very very good. Sony would Kill to have a game that sells like halo..Every company dos.

" and continuing to develop triple-A titles. " - how about for start they develope ONE triple A title?

You failed to deliver BattleToads =(

What AAA titles?

What MS is doing now its very good actually if we think about it.
I think MS is forming a giant studio ( MS game studio) with many department. And thats a good thing and it will save them alot of money.

Which one is better?
A: A giant studio with many department?
B: Or many studio that has the same purpose as a giant one?

It will be much better for MS if all of them worked under one roof.
Saves alot of money and effort.
And they can share their talent.

thats what I think MS is doing :)
I really should take Patcher Job( sarcasm) or is it :p

ms is killing its first party studios,trying to get everyone under the same roof thats not a good idea,the best dev,s in the buisness like space and freedom,you have no chance of attracting the best and future talent if your looking for them to work in these conditions.halo is the only real big selling ip out there,gears is third party that could become multiplat at anytime,losing dead rising,lost planet,mass effect for sure,bioshock,etc,etc,the list is getting longer,same can be said for sony as well.but sony is investing in new ips first and third party titles.ms seems to be content with dlc,whats this all about.

points to MS freeing up space to buy another studio

The economy is forcing businesses to make tough choices about their corporate strategy.

and this is why Sony and Nintendos first Party>>>>>>& gt;>>>>>>> Microsofts first party.

They shouldnt mess around with these studios in the first place. if theres any division they want to "restructure" its the Zune division, where that product is not meeting expectations with its stockholders and its consumers.

From what you just wrote I don't think you have any idea how business run.
Once ePIC state it that without MS there wouldn't be any gears.There wouldn't be a game that is so fresh outselling big games like ( MGS4)
lost planet and dead rising is from capcom which went multi ( bling bling DMC and RE5) mass effect is bought by EA and never the studio was own by MS.
So MS is doing pretty good.
It got countless of game in every department.Not every gamer is looking for exclusives. a gamer want games. Just like how COD4 or GTA sold more on 360, Much more..And they didnt have to be first party.
This is their second console.
Imagine what they have for their 3rd Console when they release it 2010-2011. so atleast we can say that they are doing good and did good these past 4 years

Ohhhh, dear. Sorry chaps, this was predictable. MS, stop freaking messing around with your first party and inhouse, just stop it. NOW.

Remember them, they put RARE on the map with DKC. I know that the Stamper brothers left RARE after Nintendo sold them to MS. And before that key talent from RARE left to create Free Radical around 2000.

So in essence Nintendo sold MS a shell of a company called RARE. Kameo may have been okay if you havent played a platformer in 20 years, but that was their best effort. (SMS,SMG,Jak and Ratchet>Kameo)

I love KI, and play it all the time(Jago FTW!!), but this RARE cant make anything like the old RARE from the SNES era.

Decided to break all ties with Microsoft. Had Bungie still been a 1st party studio, Microsoft would have probably ‘restructured’ them as well. Lionhead Studios is probably next up on the chopping block, seeing as how even highly profitable studios such as Ensemble were recently shut down. The following link is to an article written in October 2007 that brought up a controversial subject at the time:
http://blog.newsweek.com/bl...

Companies need two things to survive in the console market: desirable hardware and a consistently strong lineup of exclusive games. Yet the 360 still has a high failure rate and the list of popular, exclusive titles for the system has been reduced to almost nothing. Even more disturbing is that Microsoft Corp. is directly responsible for both problems.

You can’t sell hardware without releasing compelling, exclusive games, and the only way to do that is to invest in first party studios. Yet Microsoft seems hell bent on closing down their first party studios and buying exclusive DLC instead. It's no wonder Sony has been able to Microsoft's lead to just 6 million units, despite higher priced hardware. It's because Sony has concentrated on pushing out a LOT of high quality, exclusive software, and it's mainly thanks to their 1st party studios.

You guys do realize they are not closing Rare down right? This isn't some "mass firing." It's like with Ensemble, Microsoft might have closed that studio, but those people moved to other divisions. Also it CLEARLY says in the article it's a restructuring so that "dev time goes faster and to concentrate on their current 4 titles" It's all about moving people around to finish titles up. Look at Sony, they put what was it the getaway? and another title on hold so they could finish others, than those people went back.

Well I am sorry my bad...you know what I hate, people who hate! you get me? try not to throw insults around too much old man nobody liked an arrogant *rick.

"and continuing to develop triple-A titles. "

I'm sorry,huh?

"Rare focus on three new areas: expanding the Xbox 360 audience, developing social content for Xbox Live, and continuing to develop triple-A titles. "

...Continuing to develop triple-A tittles. HA HA funny because they haven't developed any triple -A for the X360, that part should read, ... and begin to deliver triple-A tittles for the X360.

First they close Ensemble for that stupid price cut, then they close ACES(Flight Sim team) now there restructuring Rare, Please MS just stop messing around with your first party titles.

MS most be in talks to drop 50 mil on some more failed DLC. So you know what that means? Layoffs!!!

Sony has 16 (SIXTEEN) first party studios, and 14(FOURTEEN) second party studios.

all of those studios are working on exclusive titles for the Playstation 3.

and Microsoft is now RESTRUCTURING RARE?? after losing Bungie, dissolving Ensemble, letting EA buy Bioware (i would have made a bid for Bioware if i was Microsoft, personally), closing down ACES (i think that's the Flight Sim studio name), and now they are "restructuring" RARE?

i own an Xbox 360, because i understand it's potential, and i want to see more from the platform than UE3 based games. i want Microsoft to stop trying to peddle exclusive DLC to me, and start peddling new, exclusive games for the 360, so i can be excited about my 360 purchase.

it's hard not to bring the PS3 into this MS story, but when one company has 5 internal studios working on exclusives, and another company has 30 studios working on exclusive titles, you simply have to do the math.

this is the area, to me, where Microsoft is failing the most. the RROD issue will, HOPEFULLY, get sorted out, but what good is having perfectly functioning 360 consoles, when there are hardly any games for it?

the PS3 has the reliable hardware AND the large software lineup. that's simply undeniable. and if Microsoft truly wants to be the industry leader, they need to put some of that DLC money into starting up new studios that will really show off what the 360 can do, and give the PS3 a run for it's money, because right now, it's looking grim for 360 owners. funny, how i don't see any "doom and gloom" articles about the 360 and it's future as first party studios go belly up left and right, but god forbid the PS3 sells less in January 09 than it did in January 08, and it's "ALL OVER!!!" for the Playstation 3.

like i said in an article i wrote on my site, Microsoft needs to step it up and not give Sony an opportunity to pass it up by leveraging it's 30 exclusive studios and "legacy IPs" (ie, Gran Turismo 5, Twisted Metal, God of War, Jak and Daxter, Sly Cooper, Team Ico games, etc).

there is only so much that Halo and Gears can do for the 360. they need SUPPORT. and exclusive, wholly owned by MS support at that (it would be quite a blow if Epic suddenly decided to release the Gears of War series on the PS3 - don't just slam disagree, Epic OWNS the Gears franchise, not Microsoft. it is with good faith and relations that the Gears series is not multi-platform. Epic likes MS, so they work with MS. that can CHANGE at a moments notice. just look at Bioshock, and eventually, Mass Effect).

the economy sucks, but that's all the more reason to not throw money at Tomb Raider DLC, and instead at new game studios that will entice consumers to your product.

I'm still mad at MS for ruining Rare.
Where the hell are my Battletoads and Donkey Kong?

When MS bought Rare they had a chance to develope some killer games, I haven't seen any unless your into kids games which I am not. The sad part is if Rare was still developing for Nintendo I have a feeling that they're games would be alot better.

Well something needs to happen over at Rare, quality titles are coming few and far between these days.

looks like no Killer Instinct for another 2-3 Years! Shame!

poor rare, like u said ms are running them into to ground, sure all the dlc ms keeps on paying for is good for now, but in the long run it's only causing more issues, and they will have to shut down more studios, which means less games for the 360 in the long run, ms is doing all this restructuring me thinks to free up funds for the 720 don't ya think??