Three brothers who created one of Britain's most successful computer games developers were yesterday £120m richer after selling their company to Bill Gates' Microsoft.
Chris, Tim and Stephen Stamper have agreed that their firm, Rare, will create games exclusively for Microsoft's Xbox console, after severing their links with rival Nintendo.
The business, founded in a terraced house in Ashby de la Zouch to create games for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in 1985, will become an integral part of Xbox's efforts to catch up with Nintendo's GameCube and Sony's market leading PlayStation 2 in the multi-billion pound console war.
Despite being launched to great fanfare in March, Xbox has failed to challenge the longer-established offerings from Nintendo and Sony, and its price has had to be cut to reflect the competition.
Microsoft has agreed to pay $375m in cash for the creator of best-selling games including Donkey Kong and GoldenEye 007 in order to strengthen its own offering. The price includes buying Nintendo's 49% stake in the firm.
Nintendo responded sourly to the deal, pointing out that Rare titles had fallen from 9.5% of Nintendo software sales in the year to March 2001 to 1.5% a year later. "In looking at the company's recent track record it became clear its value to the future of Nintendo would be limited," said Peter MacDougall, vice-president of Nintendo America.
Chris Stamper, 43, said the resources offered by Microsoft would allow Rare to undertake more ambitious projects. "For a small UK company like us to be backed by Microsoft's vision for the future is very exciting. We've always wanted to bring the best possible games to the widest possible audience."
Now Rare would be less exposed to fluctuations in the financial fortunes of the games industry. "Games is a fashion business that goes through distinct cycles. Wonderfully buoyant times are followed by dips when there is a transition to new consoles. We can now get on with the business of developing games without worrying about the state of the market."
The Stampers first got into games development after playing around with electronics in their late teens.
The quality of the early games they designed led Nintendo to buy a 25% stake in 1995. A year earlier they grabbed the attention of the games world by launching Donkey Kong Country.
Rare employs 250 people and is based on the outskirts of the village of Twycross. It has sold more than 90 million games.
Over the 10 years the cost of creating top games has risen from a few hundred thousand pounds to more than £2m. Analysts say that, with many games failing to make the impact developers hope, small design companies are seeking to offset their risk by becoming part of bigger groups.
Chris Stamper said the money would not change him or his brothers. "This is not about the money, it's about making games."
Rare's first creation for Xbox, called Kameo, is expected to go on sale next spring.
