Sony’s Harrison: I know what happened with the Stampers

We don’t know why, but it seems that companies are always unable to furnish details whenever key employees depart. You all know what happened to ESA and Lowenstein. You also know how the relationship between Rare Ltd. and the Stamper Brothers ended. No, wait! We all don’t know, and that’s where the problem lies.

Tim and Chris suddenly left the company without giving any explanation and so the matter is left for public speculations. When we say public, that certainly includes Sony PlayStation Studio Chief, Phil Harrison. According to him, the problem actually started with the company’s somewhat introvert behavior. He explained:

Rare is traditionally a very closely held company, a very secretive company. The Stamper Brothers almost never gave interviews. Then they started working for Nintendo, who were themselves a very secretive organization. I think that they became quite insular and quite inward-facing, and they missed some of the trends that were going on in the business generally.

It is clear that Harrison was referring to the meager amount of output Rare came up with during its partnership with Microsoft. It would be remembered that Microsoft purchased the studio from Nintendo for US$ 375 million. Since then until this year, Rare was only able to come up with five Xbox and Xbox 360 games including newest one Viva Pinata.

In the end, Harrison maintained that this sudden management transition led to all of these. He then wished for the Stampers to continue making games in the future:

Rare are responsible for some of the best games ever made. And from an industry point of view, I hope they continue to make good games, because they’re an inspiration to many of us in the business. I’m sure they’ll get their groove back.

Via NewsWeek

We don’t know why, but it seems that companies are always unable to furnish details whenever key employees depart. You all know what happened to ESA and Lowenstein. You also know how the relationship between Rare Ltd. and the Stamper Brothers ended. No, wait! We all don’t know, and that’s where the problem lies.

Tim and Chris suddenly left the company without giving any explanation and so the matter is left for public speculations. When we say public, that certainly includes Sony PlayStation Studio Chief, Phil Harrison. According to him, the problem actually started with the company’s somewhat introvert behavior. He explained:

Rare is traditionally a very closely held company, a very secretive company. The Stamper Brothers almost never gave interviews. Then they started working for Nintendo, who were themselves a very secretive organization. I think that they became quite insular and quite inward-facing, and they missed some of the trends that were going on in the business generally.

It is clear that Harrison was referring to the meager amount of output Rare came up with during its partnership with Microsoft. It would be remembered that Microsoft purchased the studio from Nintendo for US$ 375 million. Since then until this year, Rare was only able to come up with five Xbox and Xbox 360 games including newest one Viva Pinata.

In the end, Harrison maintained that this sudden management transition led to all of these. He then wished for the Stampers to continue making games in the future:

Rare are responsible for some of the best games ever made. And from an industry point of view, I hope they continue to make good games, because they’re an inspiration to many of us in the business. I’m sure they’ll get their groove back.

Via NewsWeek