Last year, Banjo-Kazooie fans finally had reason to celebrate, as the bird and bear pair were announced as part of the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Fighter’s Pass. Unfortunately, fans hoping to see a new game featuring Rare’s mascots will be disappointed to hear that the developer is instead focusing on brand-new IP, rather than the characters that helped put them on the map in the first place. In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Rare talked about their plans for the future, and it would seem that none of those revolve around Banjo-Kazooie, the foul-mouthed Conker, or other characters created by Rare in the past.
It’s hard to say the news is all that surprising. The Rare of today is a very different developer from the one that produced titles such as Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong Country. Over the years, many of the developers responsible have moved on to other studios, most notably the team at Playtonic. That particular developer has released two games thus far in the Yooka-Laylee franchise, and both should feel quite familiar to longtime fans of Rare.
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That isn’t to say that all of Rare’s IP won’t appear in the foreseeable future. A new iteration in the Battletoads franchise has been announced, but the game is being developed by an outside studio, Dlala. While that could certainly happen with other Rare-owned franchises, Rare has been quick to point out that the opportunity has to be right before the team will sign-off.
“Battletoads was a Venn diagram of the right opportunity at the right time,” said Craig Duncan, Studio Head at Rare. “We knew the team at Dlala pretty well. They’ve done work on some UI stuff for Sea of Thieves. They had a previous project that had some really interesting hand-drawn animation tech.”
That partnership might be the reason fans suspected, or perhaps hoped, that Playtonic would be developing a new game in the Banjo-Kazooie franchise. Alas, the developer dashed those dreams in a statement released in November. For now, Banjo-Kazooie fans will have to wait patiently and hope for a new game in the future. It’s been a very long wait for a new title starring the bird and bear, but at least fans have Super Smash Bros. Ultimate to tide them over, for now!
Do you want to see a new Banjo-Kazooie game? Or is there a different Rare IP you’d rather see resurrected? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!
