Rare will re-introduce “historic” franchise at E3 for Xbox One

Though the Xbox One reveal was absymally low on actual games, save for a few brief CGI clips, the talk is still buzzing about what’s going to be on Microsoft’s next-gen console, and Rare is one of the companies fueling the rumor fire.

In an interview with Polygon, Microsoft Studios corporate vice president Phil Spencer confirmed a prior rumor that of the 15 Xbox One games slated for launch will be one of Rare’s “historic” franchises.

“Fans of Rare and Rare IP I think will be pleased with what we’re going to show at E3,” Spencer said of the Los Angeles-based trade show in about three weeks.

“Rare remains an incredibly important part of our development capability. That historic IP that they’ve built I think can play a real important role on Xbox One.”

Rare has a long line of franchises in the Microsoft roster, but when it comes to franchises considered “historic,” it likely indicates something along the lines of the bear-bird pair of Banjo-Kazooie, the foul-mouthed squirrel Conker, the secret life of Joanna Dark in the Perfect Dark series, or the iconic fighting IP Killer Instinct, which Rare recently announced a renewed trademark for in September of 2012. On the flip side, Rare also holds the rights to Kinect Sports, so only time will tell what Rare has in store.