3 Game IP's Microsoft Is Doing Nothing with for Seemingly No Reason

[Arnoxthe1]

1. Banjo Kazooie

Acquired during the Rare buyout from Nintendo, Microsoft has only developed one game for this series and that is Nuts and Bolts. Now, don't get me wrong, while Nuts and Bolts had some awesome and unique core gameplay, in terms of it being a Banjo Kazooie game, it was pretty terrible. This shift away from normal platforming came about because Rare at the time (or perhaps Microsoft) thought the usual platformer fare was just too outdated and needed something new. And once again, while the core gameplay is pretty genius and well put-together, it wasn't what Banjo Kazooie fans wanted at all.

After Nuts and Bolts, Microsoft seems to have almost abandoned the IP, doing nothing with it and only hinting sometimes, if we're lucky, vaguely of its possible return. It makes even less sense for them not to do anything with it considering how much Yooka-Laylee took off on Kickstarter, setting record numbers in donations. So the demand for a traditional platformer is clearly there. And a traditional Banjo Kazooie game would be a great exclusive addition to the Xbox One library. Nevertheless, Microsoft has remained silent.

2. Freelancer

Developed by Digital Anvil and headed for a time by former Wing Commander developer, Chris Roberts before he later split from the studio, Freelancer went through some rocky development. Further doubts on its quality were also cast on it due to its focus on a normal mouse and keyboard for control of your craft instead of a joystick, the norm for space sims back then. When it finally did come out though, it quickly turned into a greatly loved title that is still played online now, offering an amazing experience that is unequaled even today.

A sequel was in the works, but for whatever reason, was mysteriously cancelled and Digital Anvil was then shut down and we never heard about the game again from Microsoft. Chris Roberts has since moved on to develop the highly anticipated and incredibly well-funded and utterly massive Star Citizen, once again proving that the demand for a good space sim is still there. But Microsoft's response has once again, just been silence. Stubbornly insisting on doing nothing with this gem.

3. Perfect Dark

Another incredibly amazing Rare game that suffered the same fate mostly as Banjo Kazooie. After the buyout, Microsoft did release Perfect Dark Zero as a launch title for the 360, but the game wasn't that great overall and has, on top of that, aged very poorly for a 360 game, leaving a hole needing to be filled but one that Microsoft nevertheless refuses to even acknowledge now.

When the first Perfect Dark came out, it brought about more than an amazing single player campaign. It also came with possibly one of the first fully featured multiplayer suites for a console. With its graphics pushing the N64 to its very limits, smooth gameplay wonderfully evolved from the classic Goldeneye, a masssive crapton of well-made and fun weapons and gadgets, a multitude of game modes for multiplayer, full splitscreen support of course, both co-op and competitive, plus a dearth of multiplayer customization options, AND a huge list of unlockable cheats, it was truly one of its kind on the consoles.

A game with a multiplayer suite this large would only come around later on with Halo and then shortly after, Timesplitters, made by mostly the same dev team as Perfect Dark. Now, Microsoft is putting a lot of its chips on Halo. And rightly so. It is, like Perfect Dark, a sci-fi FPS juggernaut. Nevertheless, Perfect Dark, if given the time and the budget, could also easily compete with Halo and Killzone in terms of pure features and gameplay with a rich universe to draw on and back it all up. Another potentially excellent Xbox One exclusive to sell consoles with. But since Zero, we've never even heard a single word about this series now. I simply just cannot think of a logical reason for this.

 

[Neverhoodian]

I'm sure if they were asked about it Microsoft execs would do the usual song-and-dance of "not viable with current demographics" or some other form of marketing weasel-speak.

This stuff happens all the time with major buyouts. One of my favorite games of all time is The Neverhood Chronicles, but ever since EA got their hands on Dreamworks Interactive they own the rights and have absolutely no plans to continue the series. If I had my way, any IP owned by a company that's bought out would automatically become public domain to prevent this sort of corporate squatting.

The bright side to all of this is we live in a day and age where fans have an unprecedented voice via crowdfunded alternatives like Yooka-Laylee, Star Citizen and Armikrog (The Neverhood's spiritual successor). It's as good as we can hope for in the current system, as opposed to out of touch bean-counters obsessed with charts.

 

[Silver Patriot]

The Banjo Kazooie series and the Perfect Dark series have both just been re-released on the Rare Replay for the Xbox One. It's quite good. It even has Conker's Bad Fur Day. Maybe all hope isn't lost, and if that doesn't work out we still have Kickstarter.

 

[Squilookle]

Er... Crimson Skies, anyone? It could be the dieselpunk Rogue Squadron/Starfox/Ace Combat that we all need in our lives. Started off so promising with the first game and the second one wasn't all that bad either:


But no, Microsoft has let it gather dust for over ten years. Poor form, Microsoft...

 

[008Zulu_v1legacy]

Once an "indie developer" makes a "spiritual successor" to one of these games, only then will Microsoft dust off the franchise.

 

[Andy Shandy]

Two of those series have just been released as part of Rare Replay, admittedly not a huge deal, but could potentially be used to gauge how much interest there is in those games - as well as other Rare franchises.

Side-note: Nuts & Bolts was my favourite in the series.

 

[gigastar]

Honestly, thats nothing compared to the dozens of IP's that EA and Activision sit upon.

 

[pookie101]

well there is the possibility of an outside developer/publisher approaching them. hairbrained schemes did with the recent shadowrun games even though microsoft own the rights to the IP, not to mention they are making a battletech game to

not saying it will happen but its showed they are at least open to the possibility

 

[Ayen Matthews]

Nuts and Bolts was such an insult to the franchise I wouldn't be sad if they never touched the IP again. I'd rather no games be made then pure crap. The whole opening scene with fat Banjo was just a giant middle finger to the fans. Can't say much about the other two since I never played them.

 

[Hades]

Couldn't you say the franchise not fitting with the primary demographic does have some merit when it comes to Banjo and Kazooie? From the cute, cartoony animals, wacky story and more childish ways of inflicting violence its very much a Nintendo style of game. Its not hard to see why Ms executives doubt it will appeal to their primary demographic of shooter players. MS may be wrong on this but its not hard to see why they would think so.

 

[CrystalShadow]

It's worth remembering that certain kinds of games are very much the products of the people that worked on them.

I'd be hard pressed to imagine Conker's bad fur day working out without the single person largely responsible for it.

Sure, you can farm certain kinds of things out to random devs, but it has it's consequences.

The trouble with Rare is, by the time Microsoft bought it, it was already basically an empty husk.

All those people that made those games Rare is famous for?

They had all left already by that point.

As you point out, Timesplitters was created by a lot of the prominent members of the Goldeneye/Perfect dark team.

The ones that Made Banjo-Kazooie? Well, Yooka-Laylee isn't merely a spiritual successor in the sense that it looks like Banjo-Kazooie, the real key to it is the fact that quite a number of the people working on it are the people that made banjo-kazooie in the first place.

The IP might sound like it matters, but without the people involved in making that IP a thing in the first place, the results might not be very impressive.

Let's say Microsoft, suddenly, out of nowhere decides to make a Banjo-Kazooie game?
Which do you think would better capture the feel of the older games?
An 'official' sequel made by an entirely new team? (Banjo-kazooie)
Or a 'unofficial' sequel made by a bunch of people that were heavily involved in the originals? (Yooka-Laylee)

Personally, my money would be on the people, not the IP as being a better 'sequel' to the originals.

Just like Perfect Dark on N64 feels like Goldeneye 2, even though it uses a different IP, Perfect Dark Zero felt less like Either of those even though it shared IP with one of them...

Development teams, much as publishers might wish otherwise, aren't really interchangeable cogs...

So given where the people that used to make up Rare are now, it's no surprise the current 'Rare', can't really seem to compare to what it once was.

 

[Mikeybb]

2. Freelancer

Developed by Digital Anvil and headed for a time by former Wing Commander developer, Chris Roberts before he later split from the studio, Freelancer went through some rocky development. Further doubts on its quality were also cast on it due to its focus on a normal mouse and keyboard for control of your craft instead of a joystick, the norm for space sims back then. When it finally did come out though, it quickly turned into a greatly loved title that is still played online now, offering an amazing experience that is unequaled even today.

A sequel was in the works, but for whatever reason, was mysteriously cancelled and Digital Anvil was then shut down and we never heard about the game again from Microsoft. Chris Roberts has since moved on to develop the highly anticipated and incredibly well-funded and utterly massive Star Citizen, once again proving that the demand for a good space sim is still there. But Microsoft's response has once again, just been silence. Stubbornly insisting on doing nothing with this gem.

I'm sincerely hoping we see them do something with this or perhaps something involving the star lancer element.
Perhaps the quasi resurgence of space sim/shooter games will be enough to convince them to roll it out.

Much like I'd be happy to see EA do the same with the good old grand daddy, WingCommander.

Er... Crimson Skies, anyone?
*snipped*
But no, Microsoft has let it gather dust for over ten years. Poor form, Microsoft...

Which is a damn shame.
The piloting one was good enough, but I'd be happy with a version of the board game or some other strategy version if the return to the piloting was too much for them to handle.

 

[Rad Party God]

So everything from Rare that isn't Killer Instinct or a re-release of an old game.
Or a simple cameo from Battletoads.

This thread should me renamed as "Microsoft ain't doing shit with Rare".
And is maybe torturing them in their secret basement.


Also, I recall there are some other properties Microsoft have been neglecting lately, not only Rare.

 

[The Rogue Wolf]

It's worth remembering that certain kinds of games are very much the products of the people that worked on them.

A lot of people seem to forget that corporations, by themselves, are hollow, soulless husks- it's the people within those corporations that give their products a certain "flair". And when those people who have built a beloved franchise leave that company and are replaced by others without that "flair", anything in that franchise further released by that corporation is very likely to be different (and, more likely than not, inferior).

I think the success of Yooka-Laylee has shown that we're better off depending on the creators themselves to continue to carry the torch, rather than the corporations who no longer have any real attachment to the franchises other than "how can we exploit this for maximum profit?".

 

[Silvanus]

It makes even less sense for them not to do anything with it considering how much Yooka-Laylee took off on Kickstarter, setting record numbers in donations. So the demand for a traditional platformer is clearly there. And a traditional Banjo Kazooie game would be a great exclusive addition to the Xbox One library. Nevertheless, Microsoft has remained silent.

Very true. This is the perfect opportunity to make an inroad into an area of the market which is, at present, dominated quite heavily by Nintendo (Rayman Legends notwithstanding; the response in general seems to have been pretty positive to it, but I really didn't like it much myself).

 

[Jingle Fett]

Somebody is suffering from the Rareware blues I see.

@CrystalShadow pretty much nailed it. The thing about Rareware is that it was a family run business. Very close-knit. Their development studio was literally a barn where everybody worked in. And the games they made were a product of that environment. When they got bought by MS, things became corporate and that close-knit environment gradually disappeared.

Most of the people who made the games like Perfect Dark and Banjo-Kazooie are no longer at Rare so even if proper sequels were made, they likely wouldn't be anywhere near as good as the originals and certainly wouldn't have the same feel. Yooka-Laylee is going to feel more like Banjo 3 than an actual Banjo 3 made by Rare/MS. That's because a lot of the original team is back together and they're intent on bringing back that close-knit environment.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

This stuff happens all the time with major buyouts. One of my favorite games of all time is The Neverhood Chronicles, but ever since EA got their hands on Dreamworks Interactive they own the rights and have absolutely no plans to continue the series. If I had my way, any IP owned by a company that's bought out would automatically become public domain to prevent this sort of corporate squatting.

Well... I'd prefer they can still buy it out but they HAVE to do something with it in a certain amount of time before it becomes public domain.

BTW, "But the chart says... " After he said it the third time I was rolling.

The Banjo Kazooie series and the Perfect Dark series have both just been re-released on the Rare Replay for the Xbox One. It's quite good. It even has Conker's Bad Fur Day. Maybe all hope isn't lost, and if that doesn't work out we still have Kickstarter.

Eh... I've already played the heck out of all those on my N64. Personally, I need something new now.

Er... Crimson Skies, anyone? It could be the dieselpunk Rogue Squadron/Starfox/Ace Combat that we all need in our lives. Started off so promising with the first game and the second one wasn't all that bad either

Eh... I was thinking about that game but... I already played the heck out of that one too, and the multiplayer combat ultimately came down to the same maneuvers and I don't know... It was a blast while it lasted... But it didn't seem to last for me.

Side-note: Nuts & Bolts was my favourite in the series.

I think what they need to do is put the vehicle creation into another IP altogether and then make a true BK game.

It's worth remembering that certain kinds of games are very much the products of the people that worked on them.

I'm going to kinda refute this though. When Metroid Prime was being developed, it wasn't by the same team that usually made Metroid games. And everyone was really doubtful about it being any good. But Retro Studios just kind of blew everyone away. That's just one of many examples of IP's being sometimes even BETTER developed with different people than with the original dev team. This isn't a coincidence. Sometimes taking the IP in a new direction is best handled by a different team who are more likely to think out of the box for a certain IP.

Somebody is suffering from the Rareware blues I see.

I really did try to avoid posting just Rare games and was also going to put Crimson Skies on the list but... As I said above, I got kind of tired of Crimson Skies after a while and I didn't want to just put something on the list just for the sake of adding one more entry.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Er... Crimson Skies, anyone? It could be the dieselpunk Rogue Squadron/Starfox/Ace Combat that we all need in our lives. Started off so promising with the first game and the second one wasn't all that bad either:


But no, Microsoft has let it gather dust for over ten years. Poor form, Microsoft...

Crimson Skies was one of my favorite Xbox games! Even going back to it a month or so ago, it was a ton of freaking fun.

I don't think they have any direct rights over these but a few more original Xbox games that need to come back;

Otogi - From Software is busy working on some other game though...Dark Something 3...it'll never sell

Whacked! - I thought this was a pretty charming party game. It's a shame there hasn't been a sequel...

Black - The last high-ish profile shooter on the original Xbox had that excellent gimmick where (almost) everything you shoot can be destroyed. It didn't have the best story, it wasn't the longest game but it had solid shooting and blowing the shit out of things wouldn't be that fun again until Red Faction 3.

 

[CrystalShadow]

It's worth remembering that certain kinds of games are very much the products of the people that worked on them.

I'm going to kinda refute this though. When Metroid Prime was being developed, it wasn't by the same team that usually made Metroid games. And everyone was really doubtful about it being any good. But Retro Studios just kind of blew everyone away. That's just one of many examples of IP's being sometimes even BETTER developed with different people than with the original dev team. This isn't a coincidence. Sometimes taking the IP in a new direction is best handled by a different team who are more likely to think out of the box for a certain IP.

Not going to disagree with Metroid Prime being a good game, but I rather have to disagree with it refuting my point.

To begin with, major people at Nintendo did spend a LOT of time discussing things with Retro studios, and there were people with extensive esperience of the older games involved. Nintendo didn't just let retro studios do whatever it felt like with no oversight.
And the people providing that oversight were veteran Nintendo staff who have been with Nintendo Since the beginning.
There's a bit of a difference between handing an IP to an entirely new team unfamiliar with it, and just telling them to make something, and handing it to a new team but getting several of the prominent members of the old team to advise you.

But, and this is the main point, What retro studios made is quite different in a lot of ways from what metroid was before. That shows precisely my point, in a lot of ways.
Were these bad changes? Not in this case, no.

But I don't find that a particularly comparable example.
Retro studios had the ability to call Shigeru Miyamoto and ask for advice! (not to mention a bunch of other semi-legendary staff and people that were around, or directly involved with the development of older metroid titles)
Retro studios was being held on a pretty short leash by a company that still had a lot of the old talent from back then...

What did Rare have when Perfect Dark Zero got made? Microsoft didn't have any involvement with any prior Rare project.
And pretty much all the senior staff who had worked on anything at all in the past were gone.
They were not involved directly, they weren't even around to for anyone to ask their advice or opinion on anything.

That's hardly a comparable situation regardless.
Meanwhile, look what happened when Nintendo took metroid off Retro studios and gave it to team ninja.
Did you happen to notice that Other M has some notable subtle elements to it that are rather reminiscent of team ninja's other games?
Notice how metroid fusion looks and feels a lot more like super metroid than it does any of the more recent / console metroid games?
(metroid fusion is the work of core nintendo staff and at least one of metroid's creators worked on it directly. Prime is retro studios with extensive advice and guidance from nintendo, Other M is just one of the original metroid team, along with team ninja, a prominent japanese studio in it's own right with a known style)

I still say who was involved with a project has a lot of influence on the result. Can a new team do good work? Sure.
But if they have none of the original people involved in any way, they probably won't make something like the older games, regardless of if what they make is any good or not. It will feel different.

Well, anyway... You get the point I'm making, I hope.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

I still say who was involved with a project has a lot of influence on the result. Can a new team do good work? Sure.
But if they have none of the original people involved in any way, they probably won't make something like the older games, regardless of if what they make is any good or not. It will feel different.

Well, anyway... You get the point I'm making, I hope.

I do. The thing with Other M though is... Well, Nintendo made a really bad choice in who they picked to develop it. Not to mention, most of Team Ninja's core talent had left with the release of Ninja Gaiden II. By the time they got the deal for Other M, Tomonobu Itagaki and co., the people responsible for the brilliance that was Ninja Gaiden Black and II were so fed up with Tecmo's BS that they just up and left.

And heck, even if they were still working there, Team Ninja just doesn't do Sci-Fi FPS'. They do slickly designed and visceral 3rd Person action games with comically buxom and sensual females, get-the-job-done stories, and lots of satisfying violence. That's what they specialize in. And they're really good at that. To have them make something like the next Metroid was such a puzzling decision to me, I can't even...

I do also want to point out one other example though. And that is Far Cry 2. Once again, the original Crytek devs went off to do their own thing, and Ubisoft decided to take the series in somewhat of a new direction. Now I know FC2 has DEFINITELY got its problems. But like the currency in the game, it is an uncut and unpolished gem. If you can get past the problems it has, you will find something much much more. The game even has some things that FC3 and 4 just simply lack still. Things that I really miss. But anyway, if you needed an example of an IP in the hands of a totally new team with no direction from the original team but still made an utterly amazing game, FC2 is it.