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[IbizaPocholo]

Banjo-Kazooie composer ‘not sure’ if E3 reception will lead to new game | VGC

But Nintendo was “surprised” by Smash…

www.videogameschronicle.com

The Rare duo’s surprise appearance during Nintendo’s E3 Direct stream was one of the most popular announcements of the show, with combined trailer views surpassing ten million.

However Kirkhope, who created music for Banjo-Kazooie’s Smash Bros. Ultimate appearance, said it’s “easy to get wrapped up” in the excitement when a new game in the series might not make much business sense to IP holder Xbox Game Studios.

“My honest opinion is I don’t know if they’ll ever be a new Banjo,” he said. “It’s easy to go, ‘look at these numbers’, but it might be a drop in the ocean for Xbox.

“Is there a market for it? I just don’t know. I would think that Rare probably doesn’t have the appetite for it. They’re super busy with Sea of Thieves and that’s a gigantic game: it’s going to take the whole studio to keep making content for that.

“Maybe the E3 reception has made Microsoft think about it,” he added. “But the trouble is, if I say anything more definitive than that then the fans will think I’m in the know! When really, I’m just a composer.

“I have no connection to that decision what-so-ever. Gregg Mayles and Tim Stamper are the real inventors of Banjo… I’m just the most visible on social media.”

Kirkhope said he feels the only way a new Banjo-Kazooie game will get made in the future will be if Rare and Xbox can find an external studio who “gets” the project.

“Rare need to find somebody like that who gets the game, who really loves it, gets the humour, comes up with a great plot and then kicks on,” he said.

“They would need to find an external studio who really cares about the project and wants to do it, like they did with Killer Instinct and also similar to how Ubisoft Milan did a great job with Mario + Rabbids,” he said.

 

[Fake]

Nah, just give the IP back to Nintendo and we're cool.

 

[AlexxKidd]

Nah, just give the IP back to Nintendo and we're cool.

It'll never happen, but exactly. I think if No. 1, the game is good, and No. 2, they put it on the Switch, that could be more realistic. It has to be on a Nintendo system in order to really take off.

New Banjo-Kazooie on Xbox, nobody cares, Game Pass fodder. New Banjo-Kazooie on Switch (has to release day and date with Xbox, not late like Cuphead), and people are talking, nostalgia, maybe you get some of that Switch evergreen sale numbers coming in month after month.

 

[leo-j]

Lol is there a market for it?

Mario odyssey selling 15 million copies
Ratchet and clank selling over 6 million
Crash selling over 7 million

Of course there’s a market, those quality platforms are selling more than any Xbox exclusive this gen.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

It boggles my mind how Microsoft could have this IP for 2 generations and all they've done is a spin-off, re-releases and lending the character out to Nintendo. Talk about wasted opportunity.

 

[Mattyp]

Lol is there a market for it?

Mario odyssey selling 15 million copies
Ratchet and clank selling over 6 million
Crash selling over 7 million

Of course there’s a market, those quality platforms are selling more than any Xbox exclusive this gen.

You can’t compare Mario on Nintendo to what would likely be an xbox exclusive.

Ratchet and Clank is shit, Crash is Multiplatform and Microsoft has exclusives this gen that have exceeded both those.

Will the game sell in the numbers on xbox systems to make is sustainable for them to fund a studio for it? That’s the question you have to ask. And I don’t think it is, you know when it does come sustainable? If Nintendo ever allowed xcloud on their system then they have a massive audience that would sign up instantly.

 

[Yoshi]

Ratchet and Clank is shit

I agree, but it is shit that sells in the millions and is at least related to Banjo-Kazooie. There is sales potential for Banjo-Threeie, but Microsoft is too uninterested to realise it. For more than 15 years now.

 

[AlteredForms]

Nah, just give the IP back to Nintendo and we're cool.

Considering most of the original development team from Rare are long gone, I wouldn't have a problem with this.

 

[TheDuskwalker]

Lol is there a market for it?

Mario odyssey selling 15 million copies
Ratchet and clank selling over 6 million
Crash selling over 7 million

Of course there’s a market, those quality platforms are selling more than any Xbox exclusive this gen.

Crash is over 10 million now.

 

[Fake]

Ratchet and Clank is shit

 

[Mattyp]

I agree, but it is shit that sells in the millions and is at least related to Banjo-Kazooie. There is sales potential for Banjo-Threeie, but Microsoft is too uninterested to realise it. For more than 15 years now.

I’m not arguing there isn’t sales potential at all I love banjo, but will the investment see a return on xbox only platforms?

I would love a world where they tell Nintendo they can use the IP for free if they codevelop an xbox platform version at the same time but that will never happen either.

We just have to hope someone like Playful puts their hands up asking for a shot at it. You need developers that want to make a sequel to, Microsoft’s studios have been told create what you want and the back catalog is open but who would want to put their hand up and bungle a fan fave with critical fans instead of creating your own idea to?

There doesn’t need to be a remake it’s already available in 4K and plays amazing, creating a sequel and living up to the banjo name is a lot harder then what Spyro and Crash pulled off.

 

[Yoshi]

I’m not arguing there isn’t sales potential at all I love banjo, but will the investment see a return on xbox only platforms?

Really hard to say, because there is not much of a history of collectathon platformers on Xbox platforms.

I would love a world where they tell Nintendo they can use the IP for free if they codevelop an xbox platform version at the same time but that will never happen either.

Oh, I am actually sure that it would not be difficult to convince Microsoft of such a deal - getting a Nintendo-made platformer on their system in exchange for offering the franchise for one game. But Nintendo would have no reason to do that, especially since they have the DK, Yoshi and Wario franchise, which are similarly popular and could easily serve for similar gameplay concepts without needing to resoirt to outside ip.

We just have to hope someone like Playful puts their hands up asking for a shot at it. You need developers that want to make a sequel to, Microsoft’s studios have been told create what you want and the back catalog is open but who would want to put their hand up and bungle a fan fave with critical fans instead of creating your own idea to?

There doesn’t need to be a remake it’s already available in 4K and plays amazing, creating a sequel and living up to the banjo name is a lot harder then what Spyro and Crash pulled off.

I still think the most likely candidate would be Platonic Games.

 

[Deputy Moonman]

It boggles my mind how Microsoft could have this IP for 2 generations and all they've done is a spin-off, re-releases and lending the character out to Nintendo. Talk about wasted opportunity.

I have to agree with this. Even with any financial risks, it is still worth bringing it back for the positive PR alone. 2 generation is just sad. Personally I think it would be a success.

 

[Hawke502]

I am almost convincing myself that they're developing a new Banjo. Before E3 they enhanced the games to the Xbox One X and they are releasing tons of products related to Banjo, i wish the Banjo on Smash thing was a marketing strategy. The problem Microsoft has with Banjos is that Rare doesn't want to make another Banjo, they would have to find an external studio who could do it.

 

[Mattyp]

I still think the most likely candidate would be Platonic Games.

I hope not, playful and Super Lucky didn’t have a great story by any means but the graphics, polish, map layouts and control scheme was miles ahead of what Platonic produced with Yooka. If Super Lucky was any known franchise with that amount of polish I think it does amazingly well.

Would Platonic want to go single platform again and work for the man Microsoft? But I guess if you get the money and the title you want to work with everything else takes a back seat.

Hopefully they’re just keeping it under wraps for a next gen title since this ones already over and lost in terms of sales.