Lets discuss THAT topic...

[Meinhard1]

Reading all the previews it doesn't seem like fans or the media are completely willing to drop the whole Rare vs Playtonic topic...
... whatever the facts may be ...

a) While the informed will argue Rare has continued to do great work, the fact is that "the public" at large are disappointed that Rare hasn't dazzled us the way the did in their SNES/N64 days. Many at Playtonic state they feel proud of their 2000s work but the K.S. has made it clear the team is looking back to their "heyday."
b) People, as a whole, see what they want to see. We've all read various interpretations of YL's plot-as-we-know-it. I was surprised to see gaming journalists address this in the recent media excitement ... but then again, maybe it isn't surprising.
c) While Playtonic maintains a good relationship with Rare, many did choose to leave the company to do something different. These are largely AAA turned Indie-devs and maybe we shouldn't be surprised if the context of their shared situation has in some subtle way influenced the stories they want to tell.
d) They do openly joke about Nuts n' Bolts; although the popular theory of Microsoft demanding Rare put cars in the game is known ill-founded rubbish! They know this as only they can, but the popular narrative says otherwise

Post your own thoughts! And remember that ol' Rare is developing a pirate game -- fulfilling an unvoiced promise from The 90s.
We as a Playtonic fanbase don't have ill feelings towards Rare or Microsoft ... or do we??

[Scrubber]

I'm excited for Sea of Thieves
I'm excited for Yooka-Laylee

I fully support Rare
I fully support Playtonic

I have high hopes for Rare's future
I have high hopes for Playtonic's future

I'm not taking sides and I don't get along with the "Rares Dead/playtonic is the new rare" people too well. There is no need to pick one or the other.

[DarkTone]

I'm not picking sides. I don't own an Xbox One, but hope good things happen for Rare.

[Pisuke85]

One can praise the Rare Replay effort, but when it comes to watch what Conker became into the hands of French subcontractors...

[John Enigma]

[Meinhard1]

And as fans it's completely understandable to feel misled and let down by M's use of Conker. The young Conker design just doesn't quite respect the IP...

Anyways, personally it wasn't until Rare switched to its newest logo and embracing their heritage more that I started to re-associate myself with them. I'll admit to have used the phrase "shell of its former self," in the past ... however unfairly.

[Piet]

[bjaxx87]

I don't hate modern day Rare, they just didn't convince me to buy an Xbox One yet.

You know, I loved Grabbed by the Ghoulies, Kameo and both Viva Piñata games, so I don't regret buying an Xbox 360 at all. Even slightly disappointing titles like Conker: Live & Reloaded, Perfect Dark Zero, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Kinect Sports were actually good - just not overwhelmingly good.

But Kinect Sports Rivals, Rare Replay and Double Helix' Killer Instinct just don't do it for me (Rare Replay is cool, but I already own most games). Let's see if Sea of Thieves will lure me over but I'm having doubts. If they suddenly announce new and true Banjo, Conker or Perfect Dark games they'll have me on the hook!

So right now it's 'Playtonic > Rare' for me but my mind remains open.

[Yavga]

I don't care... I can't judge about what I don't know, I'm just sad that Rare's not the quality it once was IMO. But hey... Playtonic's logo in sparkling 3d makes up for a lot of that

Rare's ded and not important anymore. Got rekt. (Imo)

Ofcourse this could change in the future.

[dotEXE]

[BanjoThreeie]

[Rueckkoppler]

[Scrubber]

Can I just point out to some people here, that are slating games such as Ghoulies and nuts and bolts... THEY WERE MADE BY YOUR DEARLY BELOVED PLAYTONIC!

[Pisuke85]

Sure, except that executive management, money and strategy were a different kettle of fish.

[bjaxx87]

I actually really liked Ghoulies. I didn't expect anything when I bought it for 3 bucks but once I gave it a try I couldn't stop before I saw the ending credits. That humor, music, graphics, lovable characters, fun gameplay as well as tons of easter eggs and cameos felt so much like classic Rare that it's one of my favorite MS era games.

And N&B... Well, I think it was marketed the wrong way. When they showed that teaser video everyone expected Banjo-Threeie, but then we got something very different. Imagine they would have marketed N&B as a fun little spin-off to bridge the waiting time for a true successor - I believe the echo would've been far more positive.

[Yavga]

Never played nuts and bolts, but it looks really fun though! Just don't want to buy a Xbox for it.

For me rare became less when I heard about Kinect sports, it just doesnt sound like something where they could pour their heart in you know... So it's not Rare specifically, just the result of all those happenings in the industry that changed the "character"
Of course I never owned an Xbox so I can only judge about things I hear and see, not by experience.

[bjaxx87]

Kinect Sports was good for what it was - a motion controlled party game. They had some funny ideas and I enjoyed playing it with my friends.

Even back in the day when they already released AAA games like Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct they also gave us 'Ken Griffey, Jr.'s Winning Run' - a well received game but just like Kinect Sports something people didn't expect when looking for new Rareware games.

What I'm trying to say is that it wasn't unusual for them to release a casual game every now and then - and that wasn't a bad thing. 5 months later 'Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!' hit the stores and people were pleased.

In case of Kinect Sports, though... For 5 years we didn't get anything else (6 years now if you don't count Rare Replay), so it's only natural that people are "slightly" pissed about that series.

[rocho]

I just hope Playtonic being as it it's can start a friendly competition with Rare to see who can bring out the best experience as the teams used to do in Rare. That way we all win!

[Xellos]

[Rueckkoppler]

All that stuff might be right, Xellos, but I wouldn't say that MS outright f*cked Rare. Maybe if you think that they mismanaged the company, but seriously, as you said, they gave all the freedom (too much maybe) to them at the beginning. It's only logical that they changed that after so many failures, what else should they have done? It's a shitty situation for both developers and fans indeed, but I wonder if there ever was a feasible way for MS to bring them to SNES/N64 glory levels. The XBOX audience is just different and Rare didn't fit in there to begin with. But guess who was waiting when buying Rare as a whole was on the table despite the great back catalogue produced so far? Nintendo. Somehow they didn't recognize the perfect match and value of this company and waited till someone else brought a better offer. And they rightfully bleed for this mistake right now. Wii U would've a much richer library if Rare never left. Hell, it would have performed better from the beginning.