There’s no doubt whatsoever that many fans around the world are dying to see a proper return of Banjo-Kazooie. The iconic platformer franchise has been dormant since the release of Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts back in 2008. Outside of an appearance from the beloved bear and bird in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Xbox hasn’t shown any indication that it’s looking to bring the series back. Now, one key member associated with the IP has chimed in on why he thinks could happen in the future.
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Speaking on Twitter, Banjo-Kazooie composer Grant Kirkhope expressed that he’s not sure a new installment in the series would be a smashing success. Kirkhope compared Banjo to that of Crash Bandicoot and the recent return that the latter mascot has made. He said that while excitement (and sales) with Crash seemed to be high when the remastered N. Sane Trilogy launched a couple of years ago, that commotion has since died down when compared to the release of Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time. Kirkhope explained that he thinks the same thing could potentially prove to play out with a new Banjo.
My take on a new BK game. Looking at Crash Bandicoot, the remaster sold fantastically well, but the new game hasn’t sold as many (yet?). I’m guessing BK would be the same. Just my take ….
— Grant KirkNog (@grantkirkhope) December 21, 2020
Kirkhope then proceeded to say that Rare, the studio that worked on the original games in the series, would surely never take on a project like this. “Also Rare hasn’t got the bandwidth to make a new game, they’d have to find a studio that ‘gets’ [Banjo-Kazooie] and has the passion to make it,” he said.
The conclusion that Kirkhope arrived at in this string of tweets is that he doesn’t believe a new Banjo-Kazooie game will ever be created. While acknowledging that this is simply just his own opinion, Kirkhope just doesn’t see any way that Banjo-Kazooie could make a return at this point in time.
So honestly my mind hasn’t changed, I doubt we’ll ever see a new BK game
— Grant KirkNog (@grantkirkhope) December 21, 2020
Obviously, this is a bummer to hear, but it’s almost hard to disagree with anything that Kirkhope has said. Still, that doesn’t mean you should dash your hopes entirely. Perhaps one day, Microsoft will finally decide that it’s time to return to this dormant series. And if they don’t, well, at least the original games in the franchise are now easy to revisit.
So how about you? Would you buy a new Banjo-Kazooie game if Microsoft ever decided to return to the property? Let me know down in the comments or hit me up on Twitter at @MooreMan12 to talk about all things related to this glorious franchise.
