There’s still some hope for a newBanjo-Kazooiegame after all, as a reliable insider has heard rumblings of pitches being listened to atXboxfrom some notable studios.
For more than a decade now,it has seemed very unlikely that we’d ever see Banjo and Kazooie again. Although there were some rumours about agame being in early development, nothing came to pass, and thebear and bird duo’s fate has seemed even more concrete after the recent mass layoffs at Xbox.
One of the teams who were notably hit hard by the layoffs was Rare, the original creators of Banjo-Kazooie, who has mostly stuck to updatingSea of Thievesin recent years. With its upcoming projectEverwildcancelled, there hasn’t been much hope about a new Banjo-Kazooie game ever being made. Well, things might not be as dire as we assumed.
Xbox and Rare are reportedly listening to pitches about a new Banjo game
One studio is even a perfect fit for the job
Earlier today,VGC shared the latest episode of VGC: The Video Game Podcast, where the team discussed what is unarguably the worst week in Xbox’s history. While talking about what’s happened to Rare and how the studio might move forward after losing Everwild,VGC’s editor-in-chief Andy Robinson shared some insightinto the possibility of a new Banjo-Kazooie.
Robinson said that Rare has always been fairly reluctant to do a new Banjo game, but that “more recently”, pitches have started being listened to. The big name that Robinson has heard for these pitches is Toys for Bob, who is best-known for its work onCrash Bandicootand Spyro. What a dream come true that would be.
And I heard more recently that pitches are being listened to. I heardconstantlythe name that comes up is Toys for Bob, who really want to do one. Funnily enough, I heard Moon Studios as well, another one that’s really interested. There’s always talks about interest in a cartoon, or a movie. - Andy Robinson
That’s not the only name, though, as Ori developer Moon Studios has also expressed interest in making a new Banjo game. Robinson also noted that there are constant talks about the interest in a cartoon or movie adaptation of Banjo-Kazooie, which shows that there’s a decent amount of conversation within Xbox.
Of course, considering the week that Xbox has had,it’s not really clear where these conversations and pitches stand now, but it does at least suggest that Xbox isn’t quite as against bringing back Banjo and Kazooie as we’ve all assumed over the years.
