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Microsoft Thought They Owned Donkey Kong When They Acquired Rare

donkey kong country returns 3ds

Conker’s Bad Fur Day director, Chris Seavor, has revealed that Microsoft mistakenly thought they owned the Donkey Kong franchise when they purchased Rare back in 2002. The information came about when Seavor was asked where the Xbox One’s equivalent of PlayStation 4 exclusive Knack was. Seavor then told the tale about Microsoft and Donkey Kong. Here’s what he had to say.

The current generation of ‘enablers’ won’t even know they own the IP… Here’s a true story.. When Rare was first bought by MS a group of execs came on a tour.. One of them noticed the Donkey Kong. ..Posters everywhere and said.. ‘Hey that’s great.. We own Donkey Kong right??’ ………/massivesigh

277 thoughts on “Microsoft Thought They Owned Donkey Kong When They Acquired Rare”

          1. really??? im actually thinking in buying a wii u instead of a xbox one… i really love the 360 but i think that ONE is gonna be a really really big piece of shit :/

        1. Proud Nintendo Fanboy

          @ Sparkticle,
          If this site had a thumbs-up and thumbs-down feature, I would have gave that comment a thumbs-up. : )

        2. whatever division makes their gaming consoles yes, but the division that works on Windows? Hell no.

        1. I =ANGRY, no FIURIOUS , no DESPICABLE!!!!!!!!! Despicable me2 in theaters July 3rd.
          I am mad be cuz u kept on postn first as ur post fool.
          Mad Guys (rated PG) in theaters 8/2/2013

        1. Watch some gameplay the game, The game looks like it will be very linear and repetitive. When I saw it at first I immediatley compared it to W101. Its very obvious that W101 looks much more fun!

    1. Anonymous go check the charts in the UK, Europe, America and Japan. For Donkey Kong Country returns 3D. It’s still selling, number two in japan still. You have exposed your non researching ignorant Sonyan ways. LOL.

      1. First of all my name is Anonymouse. Second Donkey Kong is a brain dead smelly ape who probably eats his own poo. Take a shower you stinking gorilla.

        1. Tisk tisk lol. Are your relatives gorillas? Knack LOL. let me end here before I get confused for your nonsense. Missing trolls like neutron right this moment.

    2. I don’t even know what Knack is… so clearly DK is better. I know anything and everything that is popular. 💋

          1. This moment Knack’s gameplay looks too “piped/straight forward” like new FPS games so i give my vote to Donkey Kong 64 or Conker. It can still chance a lot before actual game is out but i don’t keep my hopes up too much.

            1. I’ll end up getting it, so I’m not hating on it. But still, Nintendo makes top-notch franchises that are more memorable than any Sony has created. Not hating, just the truth.

    3. Too bad you are too coward to say tat with a real user name. Since DKC TF isn’t out yet, I would hold your xowardly ass responsible.

    4. You no nothing, Donkey Kong is still very popular. It sold millions on Wii and now 3ds. Tropical Freeze together with good marketing and the other games comming out will surely drive Wii U sales

  1. One can only imagine the horrors if Nintendo actually gave the rights to Rare and Microsoft DID own it now *shivers*

    1. Well if that did happen look on the bright side. Retro wouldn’t have wasted 3 years making DKC TF lol instead we would have have Metroid or something.

  2. Lol are they really that stupid? It doesn’t really surprise me though… They are an American company afterall.

    1. It not completely far fetched of the possibility that rare got rights to donkey kong so saying someone is stupid for thinking so is pretty stupid

      1. But do they really think Nintendo will just give Rareware to microsoft with the Donkey Kong IP? Of course fucking not.

        1. Yeah, and ‘sides. DK is to Nintendo as Knack is to SONY. In that you can’t hand these IPs over.

          Microsoft tried to tamper with gamers once during Best Buy. But yet, it backfired.

          1. Knack is to Sony, really, how many people can pick out a knack passively on this planet. The Know Donkey Kong almost unconsciously every where. Don’t expose your drive to try and equate a new charater to the big DK. It is like comparing Digimon to the great pokemon.

            1. I’m pretty sure he was just saying that Nintendo owns the DK IP the same way that Sony owns the Knack IP.

              You can’t compare the two, especially since Knack is a completely different type of game AND it hasn’t even come out yet.

              That said, Digimon (anime) >>>>>> Pokemon (anime) =p. I know, I know, the games are a different story.

            2. I’ve never heard of Knack. This article is the first I’ve heard, and I don’t have any idea what it looks like.

              I guess I could google it, but not really a priority..

          2. I get the theatrical meaning but please dont compare one of the most recognizable gaming icon’s that is still relevant to this day(5mil sold on Wii) after 30 year’s in the trenches to the monotonous looking unknown quantity Knack it’s like comparing coca cola to fine wine no offense intended either by the way.

      2. Please rescind your comment. Super Mario Bros., Metroid, Donkey Kong and Zelda are Nintendo’s marque IPs. We embrace you as Gamers though.

      3. They have rights to the kremlins an king k. Rool characters. That’s why you don’t see them in the new games

        1. There are trophies in Super Smash Bros. Brawl of them and there are Kritters in Mario Strikers Charged Football as well as King ‘K’ Rool appearing in Mario Super Sluggers.

    2. American company? I guess you aren’t using an apple, Microsoft, or Google product then, stupid black African.

      1. America is a Nation, Black, and African are a race. How did we get to racism? Anywho, I do like your point there, I doubt there are very many people in the world who don’t use iOS, or Android powered devices.

            1. accually America is not a country. unless you accually think the “OF America” allows the states to pretend its a continent.

              1. I’m not sure what your actually trying to say. The full name is the United States of America. Most people shorten the name to America or even USA. So, yes, America is a country. It can also be referred to as the US or United States. I realize the the Americas refer to both South and North America, but the USA uses the term “America” in its name. So, actually, America is a country. North America is the continent that America resides in. When someone says “Hey, that person is an American”. The understanding is that they hale from the United States of America and not Canada or Mexico.

                I don’t even know what your second sentence means.

                AC(T)UALLY

                1. ACTUALLY:
                  America was originally called the US fools. Did u go 2 4th grade? U shuld no that about riiiiight now b cuz I went 2 4th grade a loooong time a go and I no that stuff.

                  1. This is what the founding fathers have to say:

                    “In Congress, July 4, 1776 The Unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America”

                    – Declaration of Independence

                    “The Style of this confederacy shall be ‘The United States of America'”

                    – Articles of Confederation

                    We can call the damn country America.

                    1. You don’t see it written there, huh? the thirteen united STATES of AMERICA? You don’t see that?

            2. Black African? LOL. your ignorance and bigotry and astounding. Africans are actually Brown moron. Like the xboxone, your intelligence is done. Go crawl under a bridge. Racists closedminded commenters are not welcome here. We prefer trolls, that are still smarter than your ignoramus neaderthal.

              1. Believe it or not, “Black” is one of the names of that race, despite colors, in the same way as “white” is the name of the race you think of when you think “westerner”.

            3. The duo-co chip was invented by a Nigerian Scientist that works at MIT now I read somewhere. Be must be a stupid black African according to your confused logic. Albert Einstein a German or Austrian Jew gave us wonderful scientific principles, I guess he is also worthless cause he is not ‘the blonde blue eyed race’ according to your ignorant assumptions. Go sit somewhere and get educated. The planet is semi-circular my friend. It does not revolve around ignoramus idiots like you.

            4. Funny. Nokia, Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony some of the biggest phone manufactureres are not American. Sure the operating system may be american, but they are not American products. Sorry but you lose this one, unless you own an Apple product, and even the components in that are supplied by Samsung.

            5. McDonalds should be banned or universally condemned by everyone here seriously guys what he said aint fucking cool.

              BTW i am typing this on my Wiiu and i have a SAMSUNG phone you retard we all dont suckle at corporate America’s teeth.

        1. Nintendo was smart enough not to sign over rights to the donkey kong characters to rare… Though I find it weird that diddy kong isn’t a rare creation along with other kong characters from the original donkey kong country games… I guess they retained the rights to all characters with kong in the name

        2. big three are overrated

          Yeah did they really think Nintendo is gonna give them one of their best ips to be raped just like Rare. You thought wrong microshit. It pains me that they have all those Rare ips raped and killed, what a waste.

          1. What was the good thing, the name or the game? Is Zelda great because of the name? Is Mario good because of the name ?

            1. big three are overrated

              What ? Game of course. Thats what i meant microshit cant make good games. Donkey kong would be shit if it would be owned by Microshit.

        3. thank your god that didn’t happen. the awesome dkcr and dkctf would have never existed. hell knowing ms the dk franchise would have been ruined forever.

            1. You’d rather Retro make a FOURTH Metroid game than a SECOND Donkey Kong game? They chose to give Metroid a rest, and they still probably would’ve made something else even without DK.

              1. Anythin’s better that DK. I’d rather play every recent Lame of Duty starting with Cod 4. (Finest hour, final fronts and big red one were fine though.)

                1. You sound pretty mad about Metroid. I’d rather have them give Metroid a long break so they can see how to utilize the game pad. This comment is more ignorant than any comment from a troll.

              2. The problem is not that Retro was doing a second DK game, the problem was that Retro grow too much hype for said game, and not matter how you look at it, a Donkey Kong game would never live to that kind of hype expectation, not as a sequel.

                1. While I agree with you, DKCTF should be a good game. I was looking forward to the “futuristic FPS” they talked about., though.

                1. some of them already work at retro, so its hard to be jealous of something you are currently working on.

        4. HA! AHAHAHAHAHA!
          That truly made my day; Microsoft thought they were going to corner Nintendo out of one of their strongest franchises and instead they were faced with the disappointment of knowing they goofed.
          I feel sorry for Banjo-Kazooie, though. I’ll never forgive Microsoft for screwing that up so badly.

          1. Am I the only one who didn’t hate Nuts & Bolts? Also, the gamplay change was Rares decision. They said they didn’t think a platformer would sell well.

            1. The game had almost nothing true to the original. Instead of collecting objects such as feathers, you’re collecting………….car parts.

              1. I’d play the original two B-K games over anything they are making now. They ruined the franchise with that garbage excuse of a video game. “I KNOW CARS AND BANJO KAZOOIE! YEAH THATLL SELL, FUCK THOSE FANS OF THE ORIGINAL BANJO!” Wouldn’t doubt that was there thought process.

          2. I feel sorry for Jet Force Gemini and Conker because i loved those games and i would like to see those for new consoles.

        5. same here @ eric sellers
          microsoft, you just suck.. everything you do is a complete and utter failure, just die

          1. Windows 7 ? Visual C# / C / C+ / C++? DirectX ? Non-Apple OS ? The Xbox 360 was pretty good for people without PCs.

          2. I have a Windows Phone 8. Other than a lack of apps, I love it. (Yes, I’m aware I’m one of 20 people with a Windows phone… Of course the xBox Live integration is worthless to me… Lol, but as a smartphone, the OS is VERY stable.

            as far as gaming, I won’t be gaming on it.

            1. Heh. I have to admit that i use my phones xbox integration only for sending and reading messages to my xbox friends when i’m traveling. I bought Windows phone just because it had that integration but it wasn’t so useful that i thought it would be.

              Only games i sometimes play with my phone are minesweeper and Civilization.

        6. yeah their probably like hey rare do you want to make a dk game hahahahahaahah to bad!!!! this will surely put a dent in nintendo. hey bwoooss dk still is owned by nintendo!!!!! you cant ruin that franchise like the rest because nintendo owns it. dang it!!!!! we really dont know anything about games!!!!!!

        7. big three are overrated

          Those assholes copied all the good things from Dreamcast, lied to SEGA they arent gonna do a console. They bought Rare and raped it. Bungie bought them shelfs out of Microshit because all they wanted was halo after halo. Halo wars creator was mad that he couldnt create original strategy game. And now they thought they could rape Donkey Kong. Just remember who ever you are. Just keep this in mind no matter what you do. DONT NEVER EVER WORK WITH MICROSOFT!!!!!. If you do you can be 100% sure that you end up being screwed. Nokia is suffering also now that they are workin with Microsoft. Just remember what i said, no matter what dont work with them!!!!!

          1. Nokia’s suffering started when they began to use Symbian on their phones. Windows phone makes their mobiles atleast not unusable like symbian OS and the S60 UI did no mater if Symbian^1, Symbian^2, Symbian^3, Symbian Anna or Symbian belle. Every Nokia with that OS was a terrible piece of unusable electronic junk.

            The rest of your statement is true though!

        8. So they bought rare ,because…..they thought they get donkey kong…..thus killing their ips one by one

          1. Yes my friend. Please go and post this on neogaf and ign. To show all the morons buying a xboxdone, all three of them that nintendo makes the best games.

        9. Pingback: Cuando compraron Rare, algunos ejecutivos de Microsoft creían que se hicieron con los derechos de Donkey Kong | www.nextn.net

        10. So Microsoft had and still has no creative minds to make their own unique IP. Nintendo is gaming personified. We keep telling trolls and haters but they cannot envision this.

        11. Well, If they did own DK, we would have a new Metroid coming this year instead. Something to think about.

          1. Microsoft is dead…
            Long live the King and Queen, Nintendo and Sony!!

            Now they need a new village idiot since Microsoft died of stupidity

        12. Pingback: Microsoft pensava di avere Donkey Kong | NintendOn

        13. ‘Hey that’s great. We own Donkey Kong, right?’

          That’s the answer right there, to “Do Microsoft even give a fuck about gaming?”
          No, they didn’t even know what they fucking bought. What a bunch of cunts.

                  1. You’re not so bad you’re self Titan7 , keep up the good comments.

                    Do you have NNID you would like to exchange ?

          1. The INVESTORS said that. Those are the people who own stock in Microsoft, they know nothing about the gaming industry because the don’t make games. They don’t even work at Microsoft and most probably don’t play video games.

        14. You should have known better Nintendo let Rare use the Donkey Kong character they didn’t give it to them. If they did Microsoft would had known Donkey Kong. Which is a releaf they don’t. Sent from my MetroPCS Wireless Phone

        15. Pingback: Microsoft Thought They Owned Donkey Kong When They Acquired Rare | masykur blog

        16. They’d probably reboot the series as some dark FPS, where Diddy is killed, and Donkey swears to take revenge on every living thing.
          Fuck Bomberman reboot. Fuck DmC.

          1. Heh. They had propably bought that 2005’s Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie, renamed it as Donkey Kong and chanced some cutscenes to make new story.

        17. Well one things not a mistake and that’s the fact that microsoft own Banjo. Suck it butthurt nintenfags

          1. Ignoring that you Xboxfans aren’t getting Banjo neither and he lives with Microsoft, so what’s your point?

          1. Uh no, buying the franchises would be a different story. I can see it now, “Nintendo buys back Rare franchises, old rare devs come out and create a new company” I just orgasmed while typing that.

        18. lmao also if they had dk they wouldnt make any dk games(take a look if theres a new banjo-kazooie or conker game)

        19. I wish Microsoft continued thinking they owned DK, so they would make a game for them and Nintendo could sue their asses. Or blackmail them in saying, “WE Want sue you if you give us Banjo-Kazooie.”

        20. They will never be awesome enough to own Donkey Kong. Ever. I am barely willing to concede that they did a good job on the Conker’s Bad Fur Day remake. And I have nothing to say about Nuts and Bolts. Nothing.

        21. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

          1. liek lawlz wasn’t enough. its pieces of shit liek u who make people think nintndo is a bunch of fagoht lozers with no life

        22. u know, donkey kong is better suited for a more powerful gaming engine like xbox. i mean look at all the other dk games, they suk hardcore dik.

          1. LMAO: Ignoring that Banjo-KAZOOIE is on a more powerful system and Nuts and Bolts doesnt even come close to Tooie and Kazooie. So what would make your dumb ass think if DK was on a more powerful system with better graphics it would be better? I think I just exposed a graphics whore.

            1. I literally laughed at his comment. It’s only good when it’s on THEIR console. I’d rather play B-K than any game that is for the xbox. Who needs graphics when gameplay is more important.

            2. Holy shit, enough with putting “ignoring” in every sentence.
              You’re more obnoxious than that Ben Sanders troll.

        23. Just wish to say your article is as astounding.
          The clarity to your put up is simply spectacular and that i could assume you’re knowledgeable in this subject.
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          to stay updated with coming near near post. Thank you 1,000,000 and please carry on the gratifying work.

        24. I for one am glad Microsoft doesn’t own the Donkey Kong franchise. If they did they would ruin it like they did to Banjo-Kazooie.

        25. Pingback: Nintendo Switch Lite is it WORTH BUYING? | runJDrun | Nintendo Online

        26. Pingback: “Rarezas” de la industria |

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