If you happen to be a fan of Banjo-Kazooie, chances are you have found at least some entertainment in the spiritual successor of Playtonic Games’ Yooka-Laylee, a sidescroller that embodies the heart of Ban-Kaz. And if you were getting your hopes up that Playtonic Games would be taking on a new Banjo-Kazooie title, then we are sorry to have to shatter that glimmer of hope for you.
Playtonic Games, an independent studio which is made up of many ex-employees from the dev team behind the original Ban-Kaz titles, tweeted today that they aren’t working on any Banjo-Kazooie titles.
Yooka-Laylee was released in 2017 for all major platforms and features gameplay quite like Ban-Kaz. Then, back in June of this year, a sort of sequel called ‘Impossible Lair’ was announced and then released in October (Jake reviewed it here). The stark difference between the 2017 title and Impossible Lair is that IL is a side-scroller with a 3D environment, unlike the sort of open-world 3D environment of the first game.
Banjo-Kazooie was originally released in North America in 1998, and then the sequel, Banjo-Tooie, was released ac couple years later in 2000. Much later, Xbox Live Arcade got Banjo-Kazooie in 2015 as part of the Rare Replay compilation for XBO. Then, this year, Banjo-Kazooie got an upgrade to run at 4K resolution for Xbox One.
Whether or not Microsoft Studios is planning to make a new Ban-Kaz title is yet to be seen, and it may never be. We know for sure that Playtonic isn’t working on it, and we certainly don’t even know if anyone is at this point. But, with all the classics like Spyro, Crash, and MediEvil, it isn’t a stretch to think that we may get something new in the world of Banjo-Kazooie someday.
