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While Rare have developed games exclusively on Nintendo formats for many, many years, it now seems that this agreement is coming to an end, as Nintendo have announced that they are releasing the developer from the exclusivity agreement. Only a little while ago, the UK-based developer was almost single-handedly keeping N64 releases high with titles such as Goldeneye, Banjo Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, Perfect Dark and Conker's Bad Fur Day, not to mention their contribution to the Game Boy Color's software library. However, recently rumours have began to circulate about a possible buyout, with firstly Infogrames in line to aquire the company, and more recently Microsoft sighted as a possible buyer. Since those rumours have refused to die out, with many publications claiming confirmation of them from inside the company, an announcement is expected at Microsoft's X02 event in Seville later this month.
Unfortunately, this recent move has also resparked rumours that Nintendo is 'doing a Sega' and will drop out of the hardware market after the GameCube. We severely hope this doesn't turn out to be the case, but Nintendo is not yet ready to say either way. Meanwhile, their explanation for the dropping of the Rare deal was that the UK company wasn't generating enough revenue, with them generating only 9.5 percent of software sales in 2001 and a measly 1.5 percent this fiscal year. However, in fairness to Rare, they haven't exactly released many games during that period, and the figures are expected to rise when their last Nintendo-exclusive title, Star Fox Adventures, hits stores later this year.
Marc Hull
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