Rumor: Playtonic Games Possibly Joining Xbox Game Studios Or Developing New Banjo-Kazooie Game - News

by William D'Angelo , posted on 05 November 2019 / 1,648 Views

There are hints that Playtonic Games, the developer for the Banjo-Kazooie spiritual successor Yooka-Laylee, have been acquired by Microsoft and / or working on a new Banjo-Kazooie game.

Playtonic Games announced it has hired Ed Bryan, former Rare developer who was the character artist for the Banjo-Kazooie games. He left Rare in 2011 and helped on the designs for the first Yooka-Laylee game.

We're delighted to announce that the wonderful @ItsMingyJongo, father of Mumbo and Dr Puzz has joined Playtonic! pic.twitter.com/x664f20vs6
— Playtonic (@PlaytonicGames) November 4, 2019

Following the tweet from Playtonic, Ed Bryan tweeted a picture of a bag with the Microsoft logo on it. He says it has come out of retirement.

Well, I never really had any plans to use this again. pic.twitter.com/r3wS18vrrR
— Ed Bryan (@ItsMingyJongo) November 3, 2019

Itâ€™s come out of retirement!
— Ed Bryan (@ItsMingyJongo) November 4, 2019

The co-owner, studio and game director at Playtonic Games Gavin Price updated his LinkedIn profile with the following text:

Playtonic Credits

Yooka-Laylee, Yooka-Laylee & The Impossible Lair, and in the foreseeable future that game #3, #4 and the #5 one too which is the one I always thought would be game #1.

Playtonic Games on September 17 registered a new company called PLAYTONIC GAMES DEVELOPMENT LIMITED.

Microsoft's next big Xbox event, X019, will be held in London from November 14 to 16, and Playtonic Games is a British developer. A new episode of Inside Xbox will be held at the event on November 14 at 12pm PT / 3pm ET / 8pm UK.

This should be treated only as speculation and a rumor until an official announcement is made.

Thanks ResetEra.

A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.

25 Comments

Ultrashroomz (on 06 November 2019)

Debunked by Playtonic themselves. https://twitter.com/PlaytonicGames/status/1192035480222785537?s=20

Show replies (1)

Random_Matt (on 06 November 2019)

Oh well, another IP to be left to rot, MS may be like Sega soon.

JWeinCom (on 05 November 2019)

Downvote me all you want, but I want it to be a Nuts and Bolts sequels. Haters gonna hate.

Show replies (1)

Mr Puggsly (on 06 November 2019)

Ditto. That game is fucking dank. Even a remaster would be cool.

JWeinCom (on 05 November 2019)

Argh. If this happens I may have to actually buy an XBox One...

Show replies (3)

coolbeans (on 05 November 2019)

It'll likely drop for Scarlett were this to happen.

trunkswd (on 05 November 2019)

I agree with cool beans. It will take a couple years to develop the game.

JWeinCom (on 05 November 2019)

Having to buy a more expensive console doesn't exactly make things better >_<

Otter (on 06 November 2019)

Hopefully not. I don't want MS to buy one of the few 3rd party companies producing quality platformers when they themselves have negelcted to do anything with Banjo for over a decade and let Rare regress into irrelevance.

Show replies (0)

Random_Matt (on 06 November 2019)

So rare do not own the IP?

Show replies (2)

Azzanation (on 06 November 2019)

MS own the IP not Rare.

DonFerrari (on 06 November 2019)

If MS wants they may allow them to use it.

starcraft (on 05 November 2019)

They may not be getting acquired - just coming under MS Publishing's wing for the time it takes to develop and launch a BK game. Here's hoping!

Show replies (0)

Cucumberry (on 05 November 2019)

I have a feeling this is being blown out of proportion. The dude is taking his work bag to... Work... As far as I'm aware the ethos and foundation of platonic was developer freedom, it seems ridiculous to assume they would be jumping to 'sell' themselves back to Microsoft (or anyone else) after 2 games. I also doubt Microsoft would be outsourcing banjo development to them when they already have talented and proven internal teams at hand. I could see a co-development happening at some point though, it sure would be nice...

Show replies (2)

FloatingWaffles (on 05 November 2019)

Eh, I don't think it's that ridiculous, just really ironic lmao. The Microsoft today is much different from the Microsoft they left ages ago. Joining today means they would still keep full creative freedom like the other teams, not have to worry about funding anymore, AND access to all the old Rare IP again to top it all off. I could see from their perspective how that would seem really enticing, they wouldn't need to be making "spiritual successors" to these franchises anymore since they could just work on them straight up now.

Ninja Theory also had a lot to say and was big about being independent before and they still accepted so ultimately anything can happen.

DonFerrari (on 06 November 2019)

What talented internal team do they have to develop Banjo Kazooie? Haven`t seem they making this game since they bought Rare.

Landale_Star (on 05 November 2019)

Playtonic have always said they would take on a new Banjo game. Not sure if they'd want to repeat history and go back under Microsoft though.

Show replies (1)

Mr Puggsly (on 06 November 2019)

The good news is they wouldnt just develop for Xbox consoles. This is why I like MS supporting PC and sometimes Switch. Projects like this can be less risky.