MS confirm they have plans for Banjo and Perfect Dark

[Veknoid_Outcast]

true_fan said:

Veknoid_Outcast said:

As always, I greet this Rare news with a weird combination of optimism and pessimism.

I want so badly to believe in Rare, and yet I have no idea what to expect from the studio. With the notable exception of Gregg Mayles, most of the people who made Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, and the other top-tier Rare games are long gone. Can Rare summon its creative energy and make sequels worthy of those games, many of them among the best of their respective genres? Honestly, I don't know. But, if the studio did manage that miracle, nothing would make me happier.

I knew a post like this would come so I made sure to save a certain page. This is just for you, enjoy.

Ryuu96 said:

Saw this pretty great post in Neogaf about Rare and thought i would post it here =P

So I've been looking at my list and I've decided its time to update it to reflect for more accuracy...

Studio size: 136 employees per Linkedin to combine with Craig Duncan the studio head of Rare on Major Nelsons podcast when discussing Kinect Sports Rivals launch said the studio size is 120 at the time of shipping. Since then 15 people were laid off and Eurogamer says it was a 150 person project, adding in any outside help they got you can get a pretty decent idea of their size and they are current hiring for quite a few full time positions and a large amount of 12 month contract positions too. Now lets look at my lists:

Ive checked every name on this list to the best of my ability I can't see based on their Linkedin profiles that they have moved on.

Chris Marlow - Senior gameplay engineer (joined in 1996)
Robin Beanland – Head of Music – 1994 onwards
Gregg Mayles – Designer – 1989 onwards
Nick Burton – New Technology Development Lead – 1998 onwards
Louise Ridgeway – Art Director – 1999 onwards
Andy Wilson – Producer – 1997 onwards
Steve Mayles – Principal Artist – 1992 onwards
Peter Hentze – Lead Concept Artist – 2000 onwards
Ryan Stevenson – Senior Concept Artist – 2001 onwards
Dave Rose – Principal Environment Artist – 1997 onwards
Paul Cunningham – Assistant Art Director – 1995 onwards
Brent Poynton – Producer – 2001 onwards
James Thomas – Gameplay Engineer Supervisor – 2002 onwards
Gary Talbot – Animator – 2000 onwards
Huw Ward – Test Principal – 1983 onwards 
David Wong – Senior Test Lead – 1997 onwards
Paul Machacek – Test Manager – 1988 onwards
Mark Wilson - Infrastructure Engineer - 1989 onwards
Andrew Betts - Principal Artist - 1996 onwards
Rich Cousins - Live Operations Manager - 2000 onwards
Justin Cook - Principle Designer - Joined in 1999, left in 2009 to BigBig then SEGA and came back in 2012
Mark Stevenson - Lead designer - 1995 onwards
Stephen Hall - Principle Artist - 1997 onwards
Paul Mountain - Software Engineer - 1996 onwards

The people above all started before 2003 and I deliberately narrowed that list to try and focus on pre-Microsoft Rare, but Microsoft have owned Rare now for 13 years its time to expand the list to represent other long-term Rareites:

Dean Wilson - Art Principle - 2005
Katherine Gibson - Principal Rigger - 2003
Ben Miller - Lead Tools Engineer - 2004
Andrew Preston - Principal Designer - 2005
Shelley Preston - Senior Designer - 2006
Simon Gerges - Software Engineer - 2004
Nilless Sonnemans - UI & Game Flow Engineer Supervisor - 2007
Mark Lucas - Software Engineer - 2003
Eoin O'Flynn - Senior Software Development Engineer - 2004
Robert Masella - Software Development Engineer - 2005
James Thomas - Gameplay Engineer Supervisor - 2002
Peter Campbell - Presentation Lead Engineer - 2006
Eike Umlauf - Senior Software/Gameplay Engineer - 2005
Adam Park - Lead Producer - 2007
Ryo Agaries - Artist - At least 2003

So, 1/3 of the studio has been there for at least 10 years except for 2 guys who are at 8 and 9 a piece, not factoring in any I can't see due to Premium locks or not on Linkedin etc...

Dat Rare, just a name!

 

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=146664077&postcount=460

Please see my reply to Tiago: http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=6987524

I understand there are long-serving members on the Rare payroll. But many of the most important minds, including Tim and Chris Stamper, have since left.