Rare Redundancies Imminent

[catisfit]

UK developer Rare has released a statement confirming that the Twycross-based studio is set to undergo restructuring, with the studio's output now under review and the teams within embarking on the possibility of redundancies.

“As the entire industry struggles to address the increasing scale and cost of development, we too have felt a need to restructure our current approach so we can speed development and better manage the scale required to create high quality games,” stated Rare's studio manager Mark Betteridge.

http://www.edge-online.com/news/rare-lay-offs-imminent

 

[Squilliam]

Does anyone have any numbers on current staffing levels and potential layoff numbers?

 

[RobertR1]

Sensationlist headline aside, seems like the restructuring is 3 fold: http://www.developmag.com/news/31306/Rare-restructures

Development pipeline at much-loved Microsoft-owned British studio under review with possible job losses

Microsoft has confirmed to Develop that its UK studio Rare is currently undergoing a 'review' that could lead to job losses.

Coming as part of the organisational refocus already announced by Microsoft Game Studios in January, the move will see the world-renowned studio focus on three new areas, a statement said.

These are: "1) Expand the Xbox 360 customer base by delivering experiences that allow our customers to interact with our content in new and innovative ways", "2) Better support efforts to extend the appeal of Xbox LIVE as a social entertainment network to drive greater adoption across the Xbox 360 customer base" and "3) Continue delivering AAA gaming experiences that excite both our current and future customers".

The studio had already helped out not just on developing titles such as Banjo Kazooie for the 360, but also designed the new Avatar system for Xbox Live.

The Microsoft statement adds: "As we restructure to successfully execute against our shared strategy within this framework, we will be implementing a new approach to current projects in the pipeline that could serve as an industry-wide model for how to achieve a more efficient and scalable development process.

As usual, I'm sure they'll trim some fat off but seems like they're wanting to re organize Rare into 3 components.

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Was Rare involved in the developement of NXE? As it sounds like both of the first two focuses would be on the UI for the X360.

Regards,
SB

 

[AzBat]

Was Rare involved in the developement of NXE? As it sounds like both of the first two focuses would be on the UI for the X360.

Regards,
SB

They completely designed the whole avatar experience and were part of the NXE redesign.

Tommy McClain

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Ah, thanks for that info, didn't know that. So it looks like Rare will refocus mainly on UI development and improvement and secondary will be game developement?

Or some such mix.

Regards
SB

 

[vanquish]

..... So it looks like Rare will refocus mainly on UI development and improvement and secondary will be game developement?

SB

I bloody hope not, they're MS best 1st party studio (and most technically capable), especially since Bungie and Ensemble left the party.