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"The last time I was this excited was the first time I picked up a controller and played a game from Rare," said Ed Fries, vice president of Xbox Game Content at Microsoft. "As a gamer, you could hardly wait until Rare's next title was announced. You didn't know what genre it would be, but it didn't matter because you knew you were going to love it."
Rare grabbed the attention of the video game world in 1994 with its creation of Donkey Kong Country. Selling more than 8 million copies, DKC went on to become the biggest-selling 16-bit title in history.
Rare became one of the premiere developers in the world, with sales averaging 1.4 million units per title and nearly 90 million games sold since the company was founded. Five of the top 20 all-time-best-selling N64 titles were developed by Rare, including GoldenEye 007, the second-best-selling game in North America, with worldwide sales topping 8 million.
With today's announcement, Rare becomes the latest member of a star-studded lineup at Microsoft Game Studios, joining such prestigious worldwide developers as Bungie Studios, the masterminds behind the smash hit Halo™, named Game of the Year by Electronic Gaming Monthly. Rare's first creation for Xbox, Kameo, is expected to reach store shelves next spring. Also under development is the highly anticipated sequel to Perfect Dark. The company is expecting to develop at least five games over the next two years in a variety of genres, including racing, shooters and platformers.
About Microsoft Game Studios
Microsoft Game Studios is a leading worldwide publisher and developer of games for the PC, Xbox video game system and online platforms. Comprising a network of top developers, Microsoft Game Studios is committed to creating innovative and diverse game portfolios for the PC (http://www.microsoft.com/games/), including such franchises as Age of Empires®, Flight Simulator and Zoo Tycoon™; Xbox (http://www.xbox.com/), including such franchises as Halo, Project Gotham Racing™ and NFL Fever; and Zone.com (http://zone.msn.com/), the official games channel for the MSN® network of Internet services and home to such hits as Bejeweled and Outsmart™.
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