Rumor: Playtonic Games Possibly Joining Xbox Game Studios Or Developing New Banjo-Kazooie Game - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 05 April 2020 / 4,774 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 Games & Friends - Wishlist Replaylee! (@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.
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.
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Debunked by Playtonic themselves.
https://twitter.com/PlaytonicGames/status/1192035480222785537?s=20
Oh well, another IP to be left to rot, MS may be like Sega soon.
Downvote me all you want, but I want it to be a Nuts and Bolts sequels. Haters gonna hate.
Ditto. That game is fucking dank. Even a remaster would be cool.
Argh. If this happens I may have to actually buy an XBox One...
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.
So rare do not own the IP?
MS own the IP not Rare.
If MS wants they may allow them to use it.
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!
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...
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.
What talented internal team do they have to develop Banjo Kazooie? Haven`t seem they making this game since they bought Rare.
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.
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.
Well I wish them the best of luck and that they make an excellent Banjo Kazooie game, there are plenty of fans of the IP.
If this makes certain that Playtonic remains afloat, Im OK with this. It's obvious that LL was not the financial hit they were hoping for.
Seeing Playtonic make a Banjo Game will be warmly welcome
History repeating....
My feeling is buying Playtonic would make sense if they intend to use them to also develop for PC and perhaps Switch.
Didn't they very recently say that they'd only be releasing games on Xbox in the console space from this point forward?
COKTOE I wouldn`t put it besides MS management to change their minds.
Lame comment.
Essay Pro