While discussing Banjo-Kazooie’s 25th anniversary, Grant Kirkhope, a composer who worked on a ton of Rare games in the past, said that he doesn’t think there’s an audience for Banjo-Threeie.
Considering how long it’s been since Banjo and Kazooie have had a new game, and the fact that it’s the 25th anniversary of the series this year, many fans hoped that a new Banjo-Kazooie might be announced during Xbox’s Summer Showcase last month. Sadly, as know by now, that didn’t pan out, and everyone hoping to collect Jiggies and Jinjos is going to have to keep waiting a little while longer.
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While Banjo-Kazooie fans remain hopeful that a new game is on the distant horizon, it seems that former Rare developers aren’t quite as convinced.While speaking to VGC about the 25th anniversary of the series, lead programmer Chris Sutherland, character designer Steven Mayles, and composer Grant Kirkhope discussed the possibility of Banjo-Threeie happening and, while both seem to want a new game, they don’t think it’s very likely right now.
Mayles said, “I can’t really speak for Gregg (Mayles, Rare’s creative director) but he’s really the custodian of the franchise. He doesn’t really like to look back and tread over old ground, so I don’t think he’s ever been bothered about doing anything else with the franchise. He’d rather move on to new experiences – as far as he’s concerned, he’s been there, done that”.
Kirkhope was similarly sceptical about a third entry, noting that the team working on it would have to get the humour right, something that he says is hard to replicate. Kirkhope said, “I think Rare would be open to somebody if they found the right team, but I don’t feel like that team exists. Also, I’m not convinced the audience is there either.”
Although Kirkhope and Mayles both seem to think that it’s unlikely to happen in the near future, if at all, they still seem to want a new game in the series. Sutherland was the most positive out of the three, noting that he hopes “somebody is going to bring out something… some kind of sequel or ‘next in line’ game. At least before a point where I can still remember that the first one existed! But hopefully sooner.”
This might all seem like it puts a big dampener on the possibility of a new Banjo-Kazooie game, but it’s worth noting that the bear-and-bird duo have been a little more present over the last few years, with notable appearances on Nintendo through the Smash Ultimate DLCand the Nintendo Switch Online library.
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