Rare co-founder unsure as to why Nintendo didn’t buy the company
Nintendo and Rare formed a tight relationship in the 1990’s. At one point, Nintendo held a 49 percent stake in the company. But in 2002, Nintendo as well as Rare co-founders Tim and Chris Stamper sold their stakes, and Microsoft took control of the game developer.
Some may wonder why Nintendo never ended up acquiring Rare. This is something that confounds Tim Stamper as well.
“I’ve no idea why they didn’t do that,” he recently said to Develop. “I thought we were a good fit.”
No matter who purchased Rare, Stamper did feel that change was necessary at the time. As he explained:
“The price of software development was going up and up with the platforms, and Rare works really well with a partner. We were looking for someone to help broaden our horizons.”
