Activision tried to buy Rare

Ed fries, the man central to Microsoft’s record-breaking $375 million acquisition of Rare, revealed to Develop that Bobby Kotick’s Activision made an princely offer for the GoldenEye studio – one that Rare was eager to sign.

There was a bit of a bidding war between us [Microsoft] and Activision – a war which they had won at first,” Fries says.

They made the best initial offer, and Rare looked at both of us and, from the way I saw it, was more interested in partnering with Activision. I think it’s because they wanted to be third-party, independent of all platforms.”

Yet, even with his exceptional insight, Fries was at loss to why the Rare-Activision deal broke down. Something happened between them and Activision. I don’t know what it was, but relatively far along in the deal things got cold, and we made a counter offer.”

For the full and sensational story, head over to sister-site Develop.