'Rare' is an adjective that can mean "unusually good or remarkable". When Ultimate Play The Game developers Chris and Tim Stamper changed the name of their video game development company to Rare in the late 80's, even they can't have known quite how remarkable Rare's impact on the industry would be.
Formed in 1983 by the two brothers and their associates, UPTG/Rare have forged an incredible back catalogue of video games and handily enough for us, 30 of these games were banded together into a collection, Rare Replay (2015, Xbox One).
Whilst the celebration is 10 years old now and still an Xbox exclusive, Rare Replay is a great way to frame a deep dive conversation around one of the video game industry's most valued design companies. We take a look at what's in the collection and use it to understand the impact that Rare has had throughout the last 42 years.
'Rare' can also be defined as something "not occurring very often" so why has it been so long since we've seen a Rare game? What are they working on and have Xbox Game Studios had value for money after they bought Rare for $377 million over 20 years ago?
Enjoy the pod.
