Earlier this week, rumors began spreading recently about Yooka-Laylee developer Playtonic Games were possibly making a new Banjo-Kazooie game or even straight up purchased by Microsoft outright. However, fans of the bear and bird duo may find this disappointing, Playtonic has officially denied those rumors and confirmed on Twitter that they are not working on a new game in the Banjo-Kazooie series nor has the studio been purchased.
The rumors of the acquisition and possible development of a Banjo-Kazooie game surfaced after former Rare artist Ed Bryan was hired by the studio and shared a photo on Twitter of a Microsoft bag with the quote, “Well, I never really had any plans to use this again.” It is also well known that Playtonic Games is comprised of many former Rare employees which has been owned by Microsoft since 2002. All this lead to many online to speculate that Playtonic had been purchased by Microsoft, and would possibly be developing a new Banjo-Kazooie game.
Playtonic would mention that a decision to work on Banjo-Kazooie is out of their hands as the IP is owned by Microsoft. They would then sign off their statement by saying that all the work they’ve done on games “old and new, to create new characters and adventures” that fans will hopefully fall in love with. Just like fans did when they first met Banjo and Kazooie back in the 90s.
Since forming in 2014, Playtonic has developed two games. The first was the Kickstarter funded 3D platformer, and somewhat spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, Yooka-Laylee which released back in 2017. Then, earlier this year, the studio released the radically different second game, a 2D platformer, in the franchise titled Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair. Both these games were received warmly from critics. However, with the studio mentioning that they have new characters and adventures in the works, a third game in the series may be a ways off.