| d21lewis said: How do you give almost more? Either it's more or it's not. I almost lifted more weight than you. You lifted 300 pounds and I lifted 299. Wouldn't it be easier to say "less" or "almost as much"? |
He probably meant to say almost as much since NIntendo never truly owned Rare and Rare was still managed mainly by the Stampers under Nintendo's reign. Under Microsoft's reign, they actually had a boss they had to answer to.
During the first year or two after the buyout, Rare actually did have lots of freedom. That's when Microsoft's approach to recently purchased studios was to let them retain their own culture and treat them like they're still working for their own company. It's becuase Microsoft at the time embassingly enough didn't have any idea what to do with these companies they were buying out left to right. It was after that when Microsoft's own culture started to infringe on Rare's culture.
That being said, the issue with Rare wasn't more freedom or less freedom. It was the ability to collaborate and manage. What a lot of people don't realize is just how influential Nintendo was with Rare's success. They gave Rare lots of freedom but they still closely watched what they did from a distance, made recommendations and worked closely with them on marketing. When Rare was bought out by Microsoft, Nintendo was taken out of the equation and Rare was forced to do all these things on their own because Microsoft was still learning about the industry and they couldn't be the partner that Nintendo was. Microsoft didn't seem to grasp this and when Rare wasn't putting out the hits that they put out before, that's when things got ugly with Microsoft and people started to leave.
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