Xbox's 'Double Fine' Studio Dismisses Idea Of Making New Banjo Or Conker Games

I don’t have high hopes it will happen, but I’ll always have a little hope. Too great an IP to leave dormant, and it doesn’t need to be Double Fine to take care of. Lots of great talent out there begging to make a BK game, Microsoft just needs to find them and put a little faith in their craft. Fans ain’t going anywhere we’ll be waiting

Have Double Fine revealed what they've been working on since Psychonauts 2 yet? I'm interested what they are working on.

I'd far prefer Psychonauts remade in the Psychonauts II engine over a Double Fine take on Banjo or Conker.

Haven’t Double Fine said before they never wanted to make Banjo games?

Even though I love both those IPs a LOT, I actually don’t have high hopes they will ever come back, especially Conker. I really feel like if they brought that one back, I think it’s offensive, unapologetic and raunchy humor could cause trouble to the developers, plus the Conker games are known for selling poorly, so I’m sure that game series is not going to see a modern entry.

Banjo probably does have a better shot at being brought back, but I really have low hopes, plus the two rumors saying that “there is a Banjo game in the works” and “there is no Banjo game in the works” seemingly conflicting with each other also add doubt. I also think there would probably need to be an audience for it. While Banjo does have a fan base, I don’t think it’s an extremely big one, so I don’t know how a modern entry could do. If a modern entry did flop, I don’t think Microsoft would ever bring it back.

I dont think banjo will ever get another proper game. At best there will be updates to the original.

Reason 1 - I think the demand is much smaller than it appears. This seems like the Twitter Effect (2% of Twitter profiles are responsible for 98% of tweets).

Reason 2 - no one wants to make it, not even the original creators (Rare or Playtonic).

Reason 3 - I don't think it would translate to modern gaming very well. Who do they target as the audience? The people that played the original 27 years ago or a new audience/kids? They will want very different things from this kind of game.

I don't think that they are the right studio, anyway. Same for Toys for Bob, unless they remake the existing games faithfully. I'd choose Rare (original director and designer Gregg Mayles still working there) or Rare and Playtonic (some of the original Rare staff work there). In any case, these don't need to target the original audience, that's a very limited perspective. As long as the games are good, a new game can find an old and new audience. For Banjo is easier, but I don't know how a extremely overreactive and hypocritical society like the current one would allow Conker to exist. However, I would love the Banjo and Conker games to be remade if they don't sugarcoat them.

So give us a crash racing style game with all of Xbox ip

Good for them. I'd like a new Banjo game as much as anyone, but I'd rather it never come back than have a new game or remake come from a developer with no interest in doing it.

Conker can stay gone for all I care. Bad Fur Day coasted by on its humour; the game itself is not good.

At this point I'd be happy with a HD Remaster of the Xbox version of Conker with the N64 audio restored.

Multiplayer intact, of course.

Double Fine is one of the most talented studios in the world, but I don't think Banjo Kazooie or Conker fit their style.

I'd rather Double Fine keep making Double Fine games, and Banjo and Conker fall into the hands of other studios.

At this point I just want to see a new Banjo or Conker game from anybody

Banjo Kazooie is one of my fave games, but I never played Banjo Tooie when I had an N64... I have it now and still haven't played it, so there. I have no idea why I even started typing this...

Banjo-Kazooie is one of the best titles.
But no other studio should make it.
Even Yooka-Laylee, which didn't involve the original game designers, didn't satisfy me.

I love Double Fine and I love Banjo and Conker. I get why people think they should make a game in the series but I’m glad to hear Double Fine is going to make what they want to make. They are so creative. Looking forward to see their future projects.

Not double fine. I do not think there good enough for this type of game. The fact that they say no way, tells you that. Remakes would be a better idea. Toys for bob would have been perfect for Banjoo. Not sure who would be good for Conker, but I would be way more interested in Coker than Banjoo.

@CELTICWEB
Harsh take on Double Fine there - they are a very talented studio who could probably make a stonking effort if they were so inclined.

Ouch, should have re-read before my post. I don't think there a good fit for these games. I could see them pull it off, but it's not there style.

@Banjo- Everyone saying "do you really want another Banjo game?" and acting like we only want another N64 tier platformer literally made beat for beat like those games are infuriating. Man, no one says that about Mario, but there are some chuckleheads in charge at Rare that seem to willfully ignore or step around it to act like it can't be more than just another N64 collectathon.

Haha. This incident is one thing and I get that people like their fantasies but the worst is when people go around saying stuff like "put so and so on THIS and them on THAT." Maybe the developers don't want to make that stuff.

@Elbow this is spot on. The core controls and gameplay loop in 3D Mario games have largely remained unchanged since Super Mario 64; same basic moveset, collect stars (or equivalent) to open up further areas. It's the stuff around the core that gets changed, whether it's F.L.U.D.D. in Sunshine, the planets in Galaxy or the hats in Odyssey.

The best case scenario for a new Banjo game would be to keep the traditional moveset and collecting of notes and jiggies intact, but find some new hook that freshens it up. Of course, the last attempt at this was Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, which people weren't enamored by (except me, I bloody love that game), which fuels the narrative of "well if we change it, you hate it, and we don't want to just make another one like the N64 games so we just won't bother".

@Elbow Yes, it's weird. The best thing about Banjo-Kazooie are the characters and the writing, not the N64 polygons 🤣. Add the good level design and all its art and you get one of the most beloved games. I can't think of any platform character with more potential than Banjo and Kazooie. The platform genre itself has a lot of potential unlike, for instance, flatter genres like beat 'em up, and even flatter genres can be interesting to play. Platfom is one of the genres with more potential, but not everyone knows how to make outstanding games.

@Vordus
I would prefer if DoubleFine continues to be creative and decides on their own what they want to do. I like that they are not afraid to take chances and risks on new games. Would love to see another new IP.

@NeoRatt We are very much due a new Double Fine IP, yeah. It's been a good while and they used to rattle off a couple of weird concepts a year.