by the late 1990's, Rare was definitely one o the best developers on the planet. That being said, I think the Stamper brothers had trouble finding a buyer for Rare because they were asking too much. They thought all their mega hits would justify the asking price. Most potential third party buyers probably understood the symbiosis that Nintendo and Rare had and understood that Rare wouldn't be the same without Nintendo. I think Nintendo understood this too. Also, with much of the Goldeneye team gone, Nintendo probably felt the buyout price was too high. Then came Microsoft. They were desperate for talent. Unlike others, they never knew what made the Nintendo/Rare relationship work. They thought by buying Rare, they would get a mini Nintendo. Boy were they wrong.
Also, to clear up a common misconception, Nintendo didn't sell Rare to Microsoft. Microsoft bought the controlling interest from the Stampers and Nintendo went ahead and sold their 49% stake because it became useless. However, it must also be said that Nintendo could have stopped the sale from happening at any time.
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