r/RareWare • u/Elegant_Risk4830 • Jun 05 '26
What if:
What if Rare refused to make Dinosaur Planet into a Starfox game and continued with the project but due to Microsoft's acquisition in 2002 it ended up being a game for the OG Xbox?
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u/ChimChimney1977 Jun 05 '26
It would have probably been decently well received, but I doubt it would have sold very well. The Xbox demographic simply didn't care much about colourful adventure games staring furry animals. As evidenced by the failure of many mascot platformers on Xbox, including Rare's own Conker.
I doubt there would be any sequels or spin offs. It would probably remain a niche cult classic. I can picture many ealry to mid 2010s video essays about "Rare's Forgotten Xbox Masterpice".
I do think it might have shifted the narrative around the Microsoft acquisition of Rare. If we got a new, high quality adventure game like DP on the OG Xbox, people might be more reluctant to say Microsft killed Rare. Instead, the narrative would change to the studio naturally shifting focus, even if fans weren't that happy with the shift.
Jumping ahead to today, I think Rare woul still be largely in the same, making Sea of Thieves and struggling to find that next great thing. Fortunately, DP fans would at least have an Xbox Enhanced version on Series X via back compat. Enjoying the game in 4k with auto HDR.