Don't Get Your Hopes Up About Banjo-Kazooie, Suggests New Xbox Rumour

Hahaha of course there isn't and if there was it would probably be trash. Stick to rom hacks. Why do corporations buy devs and ips but don't do anything with them.

@Beetlebum91 to horde them

As always, I'm taking the words of Corden with a very large pinch of salt. I'm not saying either way that there is or isn't a new Banjo game planned and/or in development, but people like him are not the fonts of "insider" information everyone makes them out to be. He likely has as much knowledge on the status of a potential Banjo project as any of us.

I heard a rumour that they are in fact making a Banjo game, I made that up but it's no less credible than someone who is nothing whatsoever to do with Microsoft saying the opposite.

I don't know if they ever will bring back a Banjo Kazooie game - after all Yooka-Laylee wasn't 'massively' popular and the 3D platformer genre in general too isn't what it was 30yrs ago.

All the Banjo games are playable on Xbox today so its not as if Gamers don't have playable options.

Even if they don't make a Banjo game specifically, they could make a Kart racer, a Party Brawler or some other multi-IP type game. Characters like Banjo & Kazooie could race or fight with other 'MS owned' IP's and Characters - like Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Conker, Psychonauts, Pip Boy, Doom Guy, Master Chief, Joanna Dark, Blinx etc etc.

If they had something like that in development, they aren't working on a new Banjo game, don't have a Banjo game in development, but does have an active project related to Banjo-Kazooie. 'Forza Karts' for example with Karts/characters from MS IP's like Banjo wouldn't be a Banjo game, but an active project that features Banjo...

@Beetlebum91 Microsoft have misused nearly every developer they have bought I think they have destroyed rare saying that.rare were the best working with nintendo we all know nintendo are no doubt the worlds best developers I Absolutely adore banjo kazooie and tooie banjo kazooie is probably one of if not my favourite game ever made so my hopes are destroyed hearing this 😮‍💨

@Dan1283 Remember how purchasing Rare thought it would net them the Donkey Kong IP?

Clearly they didn’t do their research.

A new Banjo Kazooie is well over due. I tried getting into Yokee-laylee but it just didn't click for some reason.

@Arcticpandapopz out of interest, when did you try Yooka-Laylee? I only ask because when it launched, it was kind of rough. However, they kept refining it and tweaking it. It took a year or so, but it became a really good 3D platformer. I recently played through it for the third time.

@Markatron84 I can't remember. I did enjoy impossible lair but I got to the last level but it was solid, think I need to collect more of (I forgot what it was) to make that last level easier.

I should try Yooka-Laylee again. I heard they are doing a remaster. Maybe I should wait for that.

@Arcticpandapopz I thought yooka laylee was OK but banjo kazooie and tooie were magical games

Uh oh, a certain someone is not going to be happy with this news...

@Dan1283 IDK if "misused" is it considering SoT, an ancient game, was a top seller on Playstation the month it was released. They seem to be making a super popular game, it's just that it's a GaaS that consumes all their time.

Everwild otoh....but remember Rare was circling the drain when MS bought them which is why Nintendo didn't.

It would be interesting to see how a new banjo would do. I don't think it would do very well. I think this is a case of the small crowd that does want it is being loud about it.

I also think xbox can afford a game that doesn't pop off if it fills a category they don't really have (family friendly mascot). If it's not banjo then it should be spyro, crash, or something new.

I don't necessarily think they need to revive banjo or care if they do but they could really use a family friendly mascot to associate with xbox/gamepass.

@Arcticpandapopz Impossible Lair is really good too, yeah. That last level is tough; I scraped through it with every Bee-tallion Guard collected 🤣

Playtonic did recently announce a Yooka-Laylee remaster, Yooka-Replaylee. No date or even year yet though. I shouldn't get it... but I will.

The problem with these platforming IPs is that there is a lack of creativity bringing the genre forward. Most of the platforming games guide you through a story and challenges with collectibles along the way that help you through the game in different ways. Platformers need to figure out how to make themselves relevant in different ways going forward to broaden how many gamers want to play them.

If they don't have a game started now, there is basically no chance they will start one in the future. As they de-emphasize console sales, there is less and less likelihood that any Xbox studio will work on game types that are not in "smash hit" categories (similar to what just happened with Bethesda). You don't see other third party publisher put out many mid-range or niche games, which is what platformers are now.

Never liked the 3D platformers from Rare.
Those collectathons were just so damn boring.
I doubt a new game would sell well today.

Have you ever had any confidence in these leaks?
Banjo has had rumors that have been announced every year before E3 for over a decade. And all of them were *****.

@Dan1283 I'd argue the best thing they ever did with Rare was rare replay and that was nothing new. MS has the money and ips to make something amazing. What if they revived banjo pilot and mixed in crash and spyro like a Diddy kong racing situation. Another idea is to throw money at Sakurai since he's free lance and get him to make Xbox smash.

It's unfortunate. They said about family friendly IPs and Japan and yet they keep pushing live services and other things instead.

What happened to 1 IP to get people hooked, oh right they handle that differently now. Sigh.

A Banjo party game or kart racer (besides CTR NF) or platformer or anything else would be possible. I mean Mario is in so many genres as a gateway character (not a thing I care for I pick what I do care about like Captain Toad or Mario Rabbids as just that the gameplay not the characters/safeness). Sony or Microsoft don't do that which is fine to have different strategies or games but I mean they could offer something to bridge some gaps for some audience not just this and that trend and sometimes the core audience. They could try a bit and build up something. Or have some other small games from time to time even if they do have a fair schedule for others that came out yes.

Also where there are gaps is fair but I mean there is a reason I buy up any racing sims on Nintendo platforms is because they prioritize kart racers. Microsoft has gaps yet I don't find the need to prioritize any games on it different than PlayStation. I mean if I see an anime game on there I'll still get it. I did Valkyria Chronicles 4 on there, it was $5 and I loved the series and got the 1st game for PS3 and 2 PSP entry for Vita.

It's a weird mentality but it still gets me to buy games, if they did that some of us would buy games we don't expect (did so for Mario Rabbids 2 and loved it more than XCOM) but also just my interest in racing games and platformers or 7th gen shooters or hack n slashes/tactics games which the latter 2 are why I bought Square's 2022 games on PS4. Odd distinction games. Granted only Valkyrie Elysium was good Diofield had eh gameplay when VC4 had more depth in 2018 even if not as much as 2010's original then Diofield has. But I still bought many of them even if they didn't sell well.

While I'm sick of Banjo clones by Indies right now because how they do the missions suck in comparison to what they are inspired by let alone the moveset that's why I think the inspirations are better than those inspired that just don't get it. Even if not direct tracing they still miss the impact or fun factor of the originals. I have no Banjo nostalgia but I get the appeal of it. I get what they were going for with Yooka Laylee as well to expand it and I didn't hate it like others did.

I mean they wanted COD and got it, talnet or not no idea. The other IPs to 'expand things' well they have a few from them and don't care because adult/teen money then parent's money for kids games since well got to have that MTX or Macro TX money right?

Part 2

Crash/Spyro to Gamepass sure but I mean Astrobot might not have existed but yet they were so praised because of Playroom by Firesprite (they were ex Liverpool devs then just rebought but still close with Sony when unbought) and the rest of Playroom VR with the platformer, then Rescue Mission then Astro's Playroom. Because PS fans love it so much.

So yes there is a distinction there for sure no doubt. Then again many OG Xbox/360 IPs I've barely heard of yet are really good so to me I think it's just how well spoken about they are.

Even with some PS2 memory cards I've bought or the PS3 Super Slim I got seeing the many game saves on those has explained a lot but also weren't surprising either (I don't delete them I just save new games onto those cards and leave the saves for memory sake and context of the original owner and I know which aren't mine as I don't own those games, but any sold into the stores I buy them from I know which/when they came in).

Indie 3D platformers while hit and miss are coming back just like antigrav/sci-fi racers oh wait WipEout Rush came to mobile and died, nice that beside Omega Collection, but Redout, Fast Racing and more exist.

They know Sackboy has a presence and Ratchet even if more 3rd person shooter has it's platforming mentality for people (even if Knack was kids God of War then platformer but still).

Lego Horizon seems like a well the others didn't work and they have the Astro/Asobi team doing their thing I guess to hold people over till the others.

Microsoft even when they tried they barely cared for Blinx/Voodoo VInce or Tork Prehistoric Punk but at the same time they well 'tried' did audiences care not really but they also didn't try years later like now when they can.

I get the appeal of Minecraft but at the same time I guess like with Project Spark, Dreams/Game Builder Garage or Mario Maker (even if different brand appeal), thoser more creative types games are what those audiences seek at least on a hardcore level even besides yes nostaglia for platformers I think it's HOW they handle them.

Like Astro to me has gameplay care in it's mechanics not just the bare minimum, that's what I WANT to see in platformers yet many racing or 3D platformers by Indies feel too nostaglia safe and not exciting to me or have similar pitfalls of polish or design decisions that feel copy pasted in a Lords of the Fallen to Dark Souls way, copying but not actually fixing things that they would fix in later Souls games, it's devs that just trace but don't improve like we saw with BETTER competition in the 6th gen, actual competition and many ideas just come out all in short experimental time spans in different ways.

It just so happens that some were so good at other appeal instead. Not because they were GOOD or their business model/mechanics later were good but because of other appealing things of certain cars, or certain brands or certain animal creatures or marketing, or reviews. Not because the game design was good, no one cared about that.

Part 3

The more ambitious or the more strange to people the games are of visuals, themes or context, the more they are likely to avoid it (especially with magazine ads back in the day or certain ads being less offputting then others) which sucks but is what it is.

They have the games, they don't have all impact or the same audience per platform or an audience willing to buy/play them in larger numbers, but also reusing IPs in different ways would be nice but nope MONEY rather than art to make intriguing for that money.

I just want Microsoft to sell the rights to Nintendo. Keep publishing rights for the games currently up for sale (so BK, BT, N&B, Sea of Thieves cosmetics still keep being sold in perpetuity on Xbox marketplace) but sell the IP back to Nintendo, along with Conker (same rules as Banjo). Let them go home, Phil. You're smothering them in a dusty box and furrowing your brow over a mountain of IP you refuse to consider outside of cheap merch and pity mentions.

Let them go home.