Deal went mysteriously “cold”, says Fries.
Ed Fries, the former Microsoft man instrumental in Rare’s acquisition, has revealed how, from his perspective, the deal was Activision’s to lose.
“They made the best initial offer,” Fries revealed to Develop, “and Rare looked at both of us and, from the way I saw it, was more interested in partnering with Activision. It’s because they wanted to be third-party, independent of all platforms.”
There were rumours in 2002 that Rare had put pen to paper and signed along Bobby Kotick’s dotted line.