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Despite layoffs at Xbox's Rare, Crash Bandicoot 4 and Spyro remake devs are reportedly among the studios "really interested" in a new Banjo-Kazooie game
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This week's layoffs across multiple Xbox studios left thousands of developers without a job, including several at Sea of Thieves developer Rare, which also had its original game Everwild canceled after years of production. But despite the devastating cuts, the iconic studio is reportedly still listening to pitches about a Banjo-Kazooie revival, and some of the interested developers sound perfect for the bird and bear duo.
In the VGC podcast, reporter Andy Robinson said that he "heard more recently that pitches are being listened to" about bringing back Banjo-Kazooie, the company's excellent N64 platformer that's still retained a dedicated fanbase all these years later.
More interesting are the developers who are apparently eager to see the googley-eyed series make a comeback. "I heard constantly the name that comes up is Toys for Bob [Crash Bandicoot 4, Spyro remake devs] who really wanna do one. Funnily enough, I heard Moon Studios [Ori and the Blind Forest],as well, was another one who's really interested. There's always talk about interest [in] a cartoon, a movie, constant."
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It's a notable development because, for years, Rare was said to be laser focused on new, original games, hence why it hasn't made a sequel in more than a decade.
"The talk for ages was that, you know, there's always outside interest in Banjo but [Rare were] not interested," Robinson said. "I mean, [former director Gregg Mayels who left the studio after the layoffs] is someone who doesn't look back, notoriously, he said this on the record, that he likes to do new stuff. The attitude from the studio leadership was, 'no no no, we're gonna do the new thing.'"
For now, Moon Studios is still smoothing out its early access action RPG No Rest for the Wicked, meanwhile, Toys for Bob already confirmed it's working on another game with Xbox. Given the studio's history, it's likely another Crash or Spyro, but the developer has gone on record before to express its interest in Banjo-Kazooie, so who knows what's next?
Kaan freelances for various websites including Rock Paper Shotgun, Eurogamer, and this one, Gamesradar. He particularly enjoys writing about spooky indies, throwback RPGs, and anything that's vaguely silly. Also has an English Literature and Film Studies degree that he'll soon forget.
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