Some of the original developers behind Rare’s classic platformer Banjo-Kazooie don’t think that a new game in the series is likely to happen. For a prolonged period of many years, fans of Rare’s bird and bear tandem have been making it known to IP holder Microsoft that they’d like to see a new Banjo entry come about. Despite these frequent requests, though, the Banjo-Kazooie series itself has been on ice since 2008 when Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was released. And while fans try to remain optimistic about a revival of some sort in the future, the franchise’s creators don’t think it’ll happen any time soon.
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In a conversation with VGC, a handful of developers behind the original Banjo-Kazooie talked about the game and its 25th anniversary. While much of this conversation centered around the game itself and its creation, the subject of a new Banjo title eventually came up. In that regard, composer Grant Kirkhope expressed that he doesn’t see a new Banjo-Kazooie game happening simply because he’s not sure if there is a strong enough desire to warrant it.
“I feel like you’d have to get a team with the humor that we had back then, and that’s hard to replicate,” Kirkhope expressed. “I think Rare would be open to somebody if they found the right team, but I don’t feel like that team exists. Also, I’m not convinced the audience is there either… I don’t feel like there are that many Banjo fans out there.”
In response to this, Banjo-Kazooie’s character designer Steve Mayles says that he thinks a remaster of the original game would be a good way for Microsoft to test things out and see if there is even high enough demand for a wholly new project. This is a strategy that Activision implemented just a few years back when it remastered the first three mainly Crash Bandicoot titles before later releasing Crash 4.
“I’ve said before, that would be the way to do it… because obviously, it takes so much money to create a brand new, top-end game that the sensible thing to do would be some kind of remaster to test the water and see if the audience is there,” Mayles said. “But importantly, I think it would have to come out on a Nintendo platform as well.”
For now, it remains to be seen what happens to Banjo-Kazooie in the future. Microsoft itself doesn’t talk about the IP very much and it seems clear that no project tied to the series is currently in the works. Hopefully, for Banjo-Kazooie fans, though, this is something that doesn’t stay true for much longer.
