Rare Ltd.

Rare Ltd., simply referred to as Rare and formerly known as Rareware prior to their partnership with Microsoft, is a video game company that formed in 1982. Rare Ltd., unlike many other developers, has gained a reputation for being secretive and media-shy.
== History ==
Chris Stamper, who was studying physics and electronics at Loughborough University in the early 1980's, became intrigued with programming and quit his degree course to begin working in arcade game development. Chris, with his friends and brother Tim, eventually founded Ashby Computers and Graphics Ltd. (ACG) in 1982. In 1983, they released their first game Jetpac, which was published under the trade name "Ultimate Play the Game" rather than with ACG. 
When Chris and Tim Stamper were realizing that they had pushed the ZX Spectrum to its limit, they began to become interested in oversea games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Their trade name, "Ultimate Play the Game" was partly sold to U.S. Gold and they formed a subdivision in ACG named Rare Ltd. With Nintendo convinced, Rare developed several titles for the Nintendo Entertainment System. With the reveal of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Rare was not yet ready for the transfer to the new console, therefore limiting their games on the Nintendo Entertainment System and invested their game profits into Silicon Graphics to learn how to create games with pre-rendered 3D graphics.
With Nintendo impressed with their work with Silicon Graphics, Nintendo bought a 49% stake in the company, thereby making Rare a second-party developer to Nintendo in 1994. As one of Nintendo's key developers at the time and enough recognition, they were offered to create a game with Silicon Graphics using Nintendo's characters, picking Donkey Kong. The resulting game, Donkey Kong Country, was a critical and commercial success, leading to two sequels, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!.
In September 2002, the Stamper brothers sold their 51% interest in Rare to Microsoft and Nintendo sold their 49% stake in Rare. Microsoft paid $375 million to own 100% of the company. Despite this, Rare continued to develop games for Nintendo's handhelds as Microsoft had not entered the handheld market. In 2005, Rare developed two of the Xbox 360's launch titles: Kameo: Elements of Power and Perfect Dark Zero. On January 2007, the Stamper brothers left to "pursue other opportunities". Due to less than favorable sales on their Microsoft titles, Microsoft decided to restructure the studio. In 2010, Rare's focus changed to developing games for the Kinect, with Scott Henson replacing Mark Betteridge as Studio Manager. 
Category:Companies