Rare Limited is a British video game company. It is part of Xbox Game Studios and is based in Twycross, Leicestershire. Rare creates games in many genres, including platform, first-person shooter, action-adventure, fighting, and racing. Its most popular games include the Battletoads, Donkey Kong, and Banjo-Kazooie series, as well as games like GoldenEye 007 (1997), Perfect Dark (2000), Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001), Viva Piñata (2006), and Sea of Thieves (2018).
Rare was founded in 1985 by Tim and Chris Stamper, who also started Ultimate Play the Game. In its early years, Nintendo provided Rare with a large budget to make games for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). During this time, Rare created successful games such as Wizards & Warriors (1987), R.C. Pro-Am (1988), and Battletoads (1991). Rare became a major second-party developer for Nintendo, meaning it made games for Nintendo but was not owned by them. Nintendo later owned a large part of Rare after the release of Donkey Kong Country (1994). In the 1990s, Rare began selling its games under the name "Rareware" and gained international recognition for games like the Donkey Kong Country trilogy (1994–1996), Killer Instinct (1994), GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie (1998), Perfect Dark (2000), and Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001).
In 2002, Microsoft purchased Rare. The company kept its original name, logo, and most of its game characters. Since then, Rare has focused on making games for Xbox consoles, including Grabbed by the Ghoulies (2003), Kameo (2005), Perfect Dark Zero (2005), and Viva Piñata (2006). In 2007, Tim and Chris Stamper left Rare to work on other projects. In 2010, Rare shifted its focus to Xbox Live Avatar and Kinect, creating three Kinect Sports games. In 2015, Rare released Rare Replay, an Xbox One-exclusive collection of 30 games to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Rare's most recent game, Battletoads, was released in 2020.
Some former Rare employees started their own companies, such as Free Radical Design, known for the TimeSplitters series, and Playtonic Games, known for Yooka-Laylee (2017). Rare is well-known in the video game industry and has received many awards from critics and journalists. The company is also known for being secretive and private. Several Rare games, such as Donkey Kong Country and GoldenEye 007, are considered among the greatest and most influential games of all time. However, some fans and former employees have criticized Rare's work after Microsoft acquired the company.
History
Rare was created from the company Ultimate Play the Game, which was started in Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire, by Tim and Chris Stamper, who had previously made arcade games. After creating many successful games like Jetpac, Atic Atac, Sabre Wulf, and Knight Lore, Ultimate Play the Game became one of the largest video game companies in the UK. The ZX Spectrum, a home computer they often used to make games, was only popular in the UK. The company believed working on this platform would not help their growth and called it a "dead end." Instead, they looked at Nintendo's Famicom, a console from Japan, and thought it was a better choice because it was more advanced, had a global market, and did not have load times. Because of this, Rare was formed in 1985. Its main goal was to study the Famicom and learn how to program it. After their research, the company sold the Ultimate brand to U.S. Gold and stopped making games for the ZX Spectrum the next year.
Nintendo claimed it was impossible to study the Famicom. However, Rare used information from their research to create technology demonstrations and showed them to Minoru Arakawa, president of Nintendo of America, in Kyoto. Impressed by their work, Nintendo gave Rare an unlimited budget to create games for the Famicom. Rare moved from Ashby-de-la-Zouch to Twycross and set up a new studio. They also created a company called Rare, Inc., in Miami, Florida, led by Joel Hochberg, who had previously worked at Centuri, an arcade game company. The Famicom was later released in North America and Europe as the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).
At Rare, the goal was to create games that people would not see for six to eight years and make them available quickly. With the unlimited budget, Rare made many different games. Their first project was Slalom, a downhill skiing game. Over five years, Rare worked with publishers like Tradewest, Acclaim Entertainment, Electronic Arts, Sega, Mindscape, and Gametek to create 60 games. Forty-seven of these were for the NES, while others were for the Game Boy and Sega Genesis. Rare also made original games, such as R.C. Pro-Am, a racing game with combat, and Snake Rattle 'n' Roll, an action platformer. They created Battletoads, a beat'em up game inspired by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The game was very hard, and Tradewest published many versions of it and asked Rare to make sequels. Tradewest also gave Rare the rights to make a game combining Battletoads and Double Dragon. Rare released three Battletoads games in 1993, including Battletoads / Double Dragon: The Ultimate Team, Battletoads in Ragnarok's World, and Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. The last Battletoads game from that time was released for the arcade in 1994. Some Battletoads games were also made for Sega systems like the Mega Drive/Genesis. Rare also made games based on movies, such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and Hollywood Squares, and created versions of games like Marble Madness, Narc, and Sid Meier's Pirates!
Four of Rare's games were made by Zippo Games, a company in Manchester, including Wizards & Warriors and Solar Jetman: Hunt for the Golden Warship. Rare later bought Zippo Games and renamed it Rare Manchester. According to Ste Pickford, a Rare employee in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Rare wanted to make as many games as possible during their "window of opportunity." While this strategy brought in a lot of money, few of the games were critically praised, and some lacked creativity.
When the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) was being developed, Rare was not ready for the change. They focused on making a few Battletoads games and used their profits from the NES to buy expensive computers called Silicon Graphics workstations to create 3D models. This made Rare the most advanced game developer in the UK and helped them gain international recognition. At this time, Rare shifted their focus from making many games to making high-quality games.
Using the Silicon Graphics computers, Rare made a boxing game demo and showed it to Nintendo. Because the SNES could not display all the 3D graphics at once, Rare created 3D models and pre-rendered them onto the SNES cartridge, a process called "Advanced Computer Modelling." Nintendo was impressed by this work and bought a 25% share in Rare in 1994, which later increased to 49%. This made Rare a second-party developer for Nintendo, meaning they worked closely with Nintendo but still had control over their projects.
During this time, Rare started using the name "Rareware" for their games. They were considered one of Nintendo's most important developers and were given access to Nintendo's character library to create a 3D game. The Stampers asked for Donkey Kong, leading to the creation of Donkey Kong Country. The game was made by 20 people and took 18 months to develop. Rare staff visited Twycross Zoo to study real gorillas for the game. Donkey Kong Country was very successful, selling over nine million copies worldwide and becoming the third best-selling SNES game. It received many awards and was followed by two sequels, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest and Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!, as well as handheld versions like the Donkey Kong Land series.
Nintendo's investment helped Rare grow. The number of employees increased from 84 to 250, and Rare moved out of their Manor Farmhouse headquarters. They also made a CGI arcade fighting game called Killer Instinct on a custom-built machine. Killer Instinct was planned for the Nintendo 64 but had to be released for the SNES instead, which required lowering the game's quality. It sold 3.2 million copies and had a sequel, Killer Instinct 2. The console version of Killer Instinct 2, called Killer Instinct Gold, had lower graphics due to compression technology.
Rare later made Blast Corps for the Nintendo 64. The game sold one million copies, which was disappointing for Rare. At this time, Rare was working on many different projects, and a large platformer was delayed. As a result, Rare released smaller projects first. The first project…
Culture
According to Mark Betteridge, one of Rare's main goals is to create games that people enjoy, not just to make money. The Stamper brothers gave the team a lot of freedom to be creative, but they would step in if a game had technical problems or was not performing well. Some employees said working at Rare in its early years was difficult, with only 30 minutes for lunch and sometimes working more than 60 hours a week. Nintendo worked closely with Rare, and their relationship was called a "creative partnership" by Viva Piñata designer Justin Cook. In 2010, Hansen said innovation is very important to the company, so Rare focused on trying new technology, like the Xbox 360's Kinect. Historically, Rare only made games for video game consoles, not personal computers. The Stamper brothers preferred working on a standard format designed for games. In 2014, Duncan said Rare only made games with unique ideas and would never create generic games using their intellectual properties.
Some people say Microsoft is not evil, but that is not true—Microsoft was very supportive. A few employees left Rare after the Microsoft acquisition because they wanted to work on specific projects but could not. Ed Fries, who led Microsoft Studios' publishing division at the time of the acquisition, said Microsoft tried to keep Rare's culture so employees still felt like they worked for Rare, not Microsoft. After the acquisition, Rare employees had different opinions about working conditions. Phil Tossell, lead engineer of Star Fox Adventures, said conditions became more stressful after a very slow start, and the cultures of the two companies began to clash. Tossell said Microsoft introduced more company rules, like regular performance reviews and meetings, which some Rare employees found hard to adapt to. Some employees said early changes, like allowing team members to talk about projects they were not working on or use the Internet during work, improved team morale. Betteridge called the overall change "positive," saying Microsoft's support could help Rare develop their projects. Gavin Price, a former Rare employee, said some Microsoft executives, like Phil Spencer, supported Rare. Grant Kirkhope, a former composer at Rare, strongly criticized Microsoft after the acquisition. Peter Moore, a former Xbox executive, said he was disappointed with Rare's work after the acquisition, noting that Rare employees were trying to "recreate the glory years" but their skills were outdated. Duncan said there were still many talented people at Rare, and they would have a "bright future."
Rare was known for being secretive. Cameras monitored the approach to their office buildings in Manor Park near Twycross. Employees worked in different sections called "barns," where they focused on specific games. Tim Stamper said Rare's philosophy was to work independently, hiring people who loved games and wanted to see other projects in the company. He said Rare was a group of game enthusiasts working together to create the best games possible.
Though usually secretive, Rare allowed exclusive tours of its studio by fansites Rarenet in 1999, Rare-Extreme in 2004, and again in 2009, as well as by Eurogamer in 2006. In 2010, Rare refused a request from fansite MundoRare to film a documentary about their studios. The film, to celebrate Rare's 25th anniversary, would have been shared online and on Xbox Live. Rare said the film was not "on message," and MundoRare was shut down, saying it could not support Rare's new direction. Alex Carlson of Hardcore Gamer criticized Rare's secrecy, saying it made the company seem "disconnected" and led to games that "their fans don't want." When Duncan became head of the studio, he wanted to change the culture. Rare's office was remodeled to encourage teamwork, and the studio became more open to its community, inviting fans to help develop Sea of Thieves.
In 2025, to celebrate Rare's 40th anniversary, 8BitDo released a limited edition controller for Xbox Series X and Series S with the Rare logo and Sea of Thieves branding. Sea of Thieves also added a new hat cosmetic to the game.
Related companies
Beginning in 1997, several employees from Rare left to start their own companies. The first was Eighth Wonder, which was funded by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe. This studio did not create any games before it shut down.
After Martin Hollis left Rare, he worked for Nintendo before starting his own company, Zoonami. Zoonami developed games such as Zendoku, Go! Puzzle, and Bonsai Barber.
Some members of the Perfect Dark team, including David Doak and Steve Ellis, started a company called Free Radical Design. They created the TimeSplitters series. In 2004, Free Radical Design was bought by Crytek and renamed Crytek UK. The company closed in 2014, and many employees moved to Deep Silver Dambuster Studios. From 2021 to 2023, Deep Silver briefly restarted Free Radical Design, with Ellis and Doak leading the revived studio. Other former members of Free Radical and Rare formed Crash Labs, a company that specialized in making games for iOS devices.
In 2002, two former Rare employees, Alex Zoro and Jonny Ambrose, co-founded FreeStyleGames (later known as Ubisoft Leamington). The company became famous for creating the Guitar Hero series. After leaving FreeStyleGames, Zoro started a company called Pixel Toys, while Ambrose left game development to focus on making sculptures of cars, starting a business called Ambrose Auto Art.
Chris Seavor, the director of Conker's Bad Fur Day, started a company called Gory Detail with Rare employee Shawn Pile. Gory Detail released mobile games like Parashoot Stan and The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup on Steam.
Starfire Studios was founded by four former Rare employees. They released Fusion Genesis, an Xbox Live Arcade game published by Microsoft Game Studios. Another group of former Rare employees started a mobile game studio called Flippin Pixels.
Lee Schuneman, a former Rare employee, led Lift London, a Microsoft studio.
Phil Tossell and Jennifer Schneidereit started a company called Nyamyam and released a game called Tengami.
In 2014, several former Rare employees founded Playtonic Games. The company is best known for the Yooka-Laylee series, with the first game considered a similar style to Banjo-Kazooie.
Chris and Tim Stamper, founders of Rare, joined FortuneFish, a mobile game company started by Tim's son, Joe Stamper. Their first game was That Bouncy Thing! The Rubbishiest Game Ever, released for Android devices.
In 2019, several former Rare developers, including Omar Sawi, Kevin Bayliss, and Richard Vaucher, created Chameleon Games. The studio made Tamarin, a 3D action platformer game, for PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Tamarin is considered similar in style to Jet Force Gemini, with music composed by David Wise.
Games
Rare has created many video games since the company was founded, with over 90 million copies sold by 2002. The company is most famous for its platform games, such as the Donkey Kong Country, Banjo-Kazooie, and Conker series, as well as its Nintendo 64 first-person shooters, GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark. Rare does not focus on only a few types of games. It has also developed action-adventure games, like Star Fox Adventures and Kameo; fighting games, such as the Killer Instinct series; racing games, including R.C. Pro-Am and Diddy Kong Racing; and beat 'em up-shoot 'em up games, such as Battletoads and Captain Skyhawk. Rare's most recent game is Sea of Thieves (2018), a pirate-themed open world sandbox game for Xbox One and Windows 10. The game continues to receive updates and new content as a live service game and has been released on Xbox Series X and Series S and PlayStation 5. The studio also helped develop Battletoads (2020).
Rare has several publicly known projects that were canceled before completion. Some of these projects were officially announced by Rare or its publisher before being canceled. These include Dream: Land of Giants, which later became Banjo-Kazooie; Perfect Dark Core, originally planned as a sequel to the first Perfect Dark; Black Widow, an open world game where players control an eight-legged robot; Sundown, which included a survival mode with waves of enemies; The Fast and the Furriest, a mascot racing game; Tailwind, an action game featuring helicopters; Urchin, a Fable-style game that started development after Live & Reloaded was completed; Ordinary Joe; Savannah, a Kinect-based game; Kinect versions of Wii Fit and Professor Layton; a sequel to Diddy Kong Racing; a sequel to Kameo; and Everwild, an action adventure game with elements similar to a god game.
Awards
Rare received many awards for its work. In 1997, Electronic Gaming Monthly called Rare "Most Promising Game Company" because it created popular games for the Nintendo 64. Rare won a BAFTA award for "Best UK Developer" for its work on the game GoldenEye 007. In 2000, Rare received a BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Moving Images Award for creating the game Perfect Dark. In 2015, Tim and Chris Stamper were honored as Development Legends at the Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Rare was listed among Gamasutra's Top 30 Developers of All Time and ranked as the 36th best video game maker by IGN. In 2018, the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum organized a special exhibit showing Rare's work throughout its history.