Remember when Rare Ltd. was bought by Microsoft back in 2002? Yeah, as a youngster, it hurt me to see franchises like Perfect Dark, Killer Instinct, Conker, and Banjo-Kazooie now belong to the hands of Microsoft instead of Nintendo. It was like saying goodbye to an old friend…an old friend that took quite a long time to put out material for one’s console.
In hindsight, it was probably one of the wisest decision Nintendo did to let Rare go just for the sake of securing more enduring development partners (Rare, Monolith Soft). Rare was no longer the juggernaut it used to be during SNES and N64 eras, plus, even a former composer of theirs lashed out on how their parent company has ruined the British-based developer. Now, according to an anonymous tip, Nintendo may be in negotiations to purchase Rare from Microsoft, but for the sole purpose of the Banjo-Kazooie franchise. However, the tipster did mention that Nintendo wouldn’t liquidize all of Rare Ltd.’s franchises, but use their focus of bringing the Banjo-Kazooie franchise up to speed.
Like any good rumor, this one is being taken with a triple spoonfuls of salt. The tip itself gets less and less believable when the supposed source states that Retro Studios would be working on resurrecting Banjo-Kazooie. So, you must be asking: Do I believe this pipe dream of a rumor? Well, let this latest Tweet from IGN’s Richard George explain my thoughts: “I believe the “Nintendo Buying @RareLtd” rumor about as much as I would believe a “Miyamoto is going to join Microsoft” rumor.”
