Phil Spencer says Xbox Game Pass has made small games and retro revivals more viable: "Banjo fans, I hear you"

In a recent interview, Xbox boss Phil Spencer had a lot to say about potential revivals for a number of series across the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard back catalog. He called out the classic Rare platformer Banjo-Kazooie by name and was quick to say, "I don't bring up games just to tease to no end."

"You've seen from our history that we haven't touched every franchise that people would love us to touch - Banjo fans, I hear you," Spencer tells Windows Central. "But it is true that, when we find the right team, and the right opportunity, I love going back to revisit stories and characters that we've seen previously."

Spencer also notes that getting classic revivals going is all about passion internally at the studio that would make it happen, and that goes for both the titles under the current Microsoft banner and those that'll be joining with the Xbox Activision deal. He says "that doesn't mean that the team has to be the original team, every time," but adds that "I'm not one to come in and take a franchise from a team and remove them from the discussion or development process on how something new gets built."

He doesn't want to remove the original creators and culture behind certain classics from the equation, and says "past experiences" are illustrative in how that can go wrong. He's not specific about what those experiences are, but you can certainly look at titles like 2011's Age of Empires Online and 2012's Microsoft Flight for examples of revivals that failed to satisfy fans. Notably, those are two series that got much better new entries in the current era of Xbox.

With Banjo noted in this interview and Activision Blizzard games like Hexen, Guitar Hero, and Tony Hawk mentioned in other recent appearances, Spencer says he's not stirring things up for no reason. "I want our fans and customers to know that I don't bring up games just to tease to no end," he says, adding that he's "not one to try and lead people on. It might not happen on the timeline that people would love, but usually when I tease, there's something there."

It certainly sounds like he believes that Game Pass is key to helping these kinds of revivals happen. "We have a service that is financially viable, meaning it makes money, in Game Pass. We've put a lot of money into the market, over a billion dollars a year supporting third-party games coming into Game Pass. What we see in Game Pass is a service that supports all kinds of games, from the biggest games, to the unknown indie games that you didn't know you would love until you played it."

Spencer also name drops smaller titles like Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, and Grounded as games that have had "real success" as part of Game Pass. "The diversity of business models allows us to invest in different kinds of content and still have financial success with that content," he adds and notes that's key when looking at the back catalogs of acquisitions like Bethesda or Activision Blizzard for potential revivals.

"The diversity in business models that we have in Microsoft Gaming really lets us support different kinds of games, different sizes of games, and not every game we build has to be the kind of game that takes up all of your time."

It remains controversial among long-time fans, but Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts got a moment to shine in 2023 thanks to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.