For over 20 years, players have been waiting for a new Banjo-Kazooie game from Rare. And no, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, doesn’t count. What people have been wanting is a third game in the main Banjo-Kazooie series. Unfortunately no only hasn’t it happened yet, but the game’s composer doesn’t think there’s much chance of a new game at all.
In speaking with Eurogamer, Banjo-Kazooie composer Grant Kirkhope talked about a new game in the franchise and his thoughts on it ever happening. While he’s doesn’t put the chances at zero, he still thinks it’s unlikely to ever happen.
Per the interview, Kirkhope doesn’t believe Rare has “the appetite” for the franchise nor does he believe it would sell enough copies to justify its development and release.
“I just think it’s unlikely,” Kirkhope said. “I don’t know many people left at Rare, I do know a few, and I feel like Rare don’t have the appetite to get involved. Microsoft would stand back and say ‘you sort it out’ and Rare would have to do all the heavy lifting, so that’s one factor.”
He added that he also doesn’t believe Rare would develop the game. Rather, he thinks they’d give it to a different studio to build, which could impact the ability to “get the humour” of the past titles.
“Obviously you’ve got Toys for Bob saying they’d love to do it and Moon Studios’ director mentioned they think there’s still life in the IP,” he said. “They’re two pretty big studios, they know what they’re doing. Whether Microsoft would give the ok, I don’t know. Would they involve me? I don’t know, probably not.
“Zero is probably a bit of a heavy estimate, it’s probably better than zero but not much.”
Are you still holding out hope for a new Banjo-Kazooie game? Let us know down below, and join the discussion in the official Insider Gaming forums.
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Mike has been covering the gaming industry since 2012, and has reported on some of the largest events in the industry while also working as an investigative reporter. Outside of…
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