Moore: Rare's skillset 'not applicable' in today's market

Day three of The Guardian's interview series with ex-Xbox chief Peter Moore is another great read – unless you're a Rare employee, that is. Moore isn't shy with his feelings about the developer, which was acquired by Microsoft in 2002 for $377 million. (That's more than 30 billion

!)

Moore confesses that Microsoft "had a tough time getting [the old] Rare back," stating that it was "trying all kinds of classic Rare stuff" and that "the industry had past Rare by." He acknowledges that, "It's a strong statement, but what they were good at, new consumers didn't care about anymore," adding that, "It was tough because they were trying very hard to try and recreate the glory years of Rare, which is the reason Microsoft paid a lot of money for them."

He calls Rare "great people," but feels that "their skillsets were from a different time and a different place and were not applicable in today's market." We don't know, Pete – people seem to like Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise just fine.