Published in Gaming

No Kameo 2 for Xbox 360

by on03 November 2009

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Other projects at Rare scrapped, as well

Changes are in process again at Rare. From what our insiders tell us, Microsoft has pulled the plug on Kameo 2, which has been secretly in development for some time and which was the next chapter for one of the launch titles on the Xbox 360.

Tongues are wagging about the restructuring that Microsoft has been giving Rare. While on the surface it might seem to be a complete make over, we hear that it is part of Microsoft’s new plan on how they are handling in-house development projects going forward.

According to our sources, we know that Kameo 2 was a victim of the restructuring, and we are now hearing that several other projects that were in various stages of development were also dropped. The whispers that we are hearing say that Rare is intimately involved with the Natal Project, and change was necessary to make sure that their focus remains on getting at least one of the two titles that they are working on ready for the Natal launch.

While Kameo was a launch title when the Xbox 360 arrived, it never seems to have enjoyed the type of critical acclaim or sales that were expected for the title. While our sources tell us that this was a decision as to why Kameo 2 was canceled, it was not the only reason. Of course, this isn’t to say that the project might not be revisited at some point in the future, but right now it does seem unlikely.

While it is unknown exactly what titles Rare might be working on for the Natal launch, it is expected that this will become clearer next year before Natal actually launches. The decision by Microsoft to focus so much energy on the software development for Natal is a good thing. It seems that Microsoft does understand that Natal will not be successful without significant major software support for it, and the decision to move all of Rare's efforts to support the Natal launch is likely a good decision in the long term.

Last modified on 03 November 2009
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