Playtonic Games - which is currently working on finalising Yooka-Laylee for launch - has published a blog post announcing that two former Rare designers have joined the ranks at the studio. Throughout the development of Yooka-Laylee the studio has been picking up various former Rare employees, including coders and character artists.
Enter Andy Wilson and Gary Richards - originally joining Rare almost 20 years ago as QA testers on a multitude of handheld titles, the pair soon worked as designers. Wilson worked on games such as Donkey Kong 64 and Conker's Bad Fur Day, while Richards retained his handheld roots with titles like Donkey Kong Land III.
Yooka-Laylee is currently slated for a April 2017 release on multiple platforms. The title was backed on Kickstarter, and while it was cancelled on Wii U, it was announced that the title would be brought to the Nintendo Switch; no firm window has been given for that release.
Considering the nature of the Nintendo Switch, it might be safe to assume that Andy and Gary will hold a major role with the system's version of the title.
[source playtonicgames.com]
Comments 50
The more Rare devs get in the Playtonic team, the closer we get to having the actual Rare back under a different name.
The cancellation of the Wii U version of this game has tainted how I feel about it now. They got the majority of their funding from Nintendo fans, without which this game mightn't exist or certainly wouldn't be as ambitious without the money to back it up. To then shaft us is pretty low, even if we do get a Switch version. That's not what we paid for and for some it means we've to fork out for a new console.
Can we please stop covering this game until it is confirmed for Switch or some other Nintendo console. Mass Effect Andromeda got a late March release date today to give Switch some competition in mass media coverage, might as well cover that too.
Uhhh it literally says in the article it's coming to Switch Rjejr...
@Pikachupwnage Actually Playtonic never once confirmed a Switch port. They only confirmed they were looking into it.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE agreed, but it's a game I've been wanting for a while, so I will only be able to hold out for so long.
My impressions of Yooka Layle and Playtonic were tainted by the way they announced that the Wii U version was cancelled, unfortunately.
I agree with rjejr, until we get a confirmed release date for the Switch its better to ignore it.
Who knows, they may say they have technical problems with the Switch as well!
@Grandpa_Pixel This is what they said under a section titled 'Making the Switch', "We can however confirm the exciting news that we are now working very closely with Nintendo to look to bring Yooka-Laylee to the upcoming Nintendo Switch. We’re looking forward to exploring the opportunity and will have more details to share early next year." Not quite confirmed, but pretty close and I'm expecting it will be at the event next week in Tokyo.
I look forward to seeing what the old rare team make next. My WiiU final game was Paper Mario so as long as YL ports to switch i am happy to wait. If it doesnt then i can't buy it.
I get why people are disappointed about the cancellation of the Wii U version, but really, when this game's comes out this April, do you really think this game will sell well, at all, on Wii U? Will you guys even be buying Wii U games anymore when this game comes out? This game is almost definitely going to come to the Switch either way; I wonder how many people who are disappointed with the Wii U version's cancellation would have gotten it for the Switch anyway. Playtonic's an indie company, and losing money by supporting a dead platform is certainly not in their best interest.
Even though this game is not yet 100℅ confirmed for the Switch, it's incredibly likely it will come to it since Playtonic needs to compensate for the cancellation of the Wii U version. I still think it's worth covering news about them.
Exactly Luna_110 - they promised to bring it to Wii U and showed that their promises are worth nothing and haven't even promised to bring it to the Switch - they just said they're looking into it. If the Switch GPU only has 40% power in portable mode it would need 2.5 times the power of the Wii U GPU just to equal the Wii U in portable mode, so these incredibly vague and mysterious "unforeseen technical issues" could well rear their heads again on the Switch - assuming they even exist.
Continuing to cover a company that have no confirmed Nintendo games is one thing, but Nintendo Life shouldn't pretend it's confirmed for Switch when it isn't - they were "working hard" to bring it to Wii U too. This article should be amended to reflect the fact it isn't confirmed.
Also, according to poll's I saw on the Playtonic forum's a huge number of backers were Wii U owners who wanted it on Wii U and Playtonic didn't even come out and offer refunds to people who may well have no way to play the game, at least for a couple of years or more - very shoddy behaviour. They're really starting to come across like a bunch of scum bag cow boy's taking Wii U owners money and running.
They effectively all, but worked for Nintendo, forged a reputation by either ripping off Nintendo games or working on Nintendo IP's, and now Nintendo fans, Rare's core fan base, as well as that of Playtonic by extension, may be the only people who can't play the game, at least on their preferred format(s). This game, Playtonic and everyone associated with them are massively tainted in my eyes now.
I'm tempted to say if I can't get it on Wii U I will get it on Pirate Bay.
@SeriousSam It's not very difficult to make a machine that's 2.5 times as powerful as a Wii U. You're also forgetting that optimizing for the Switch will be infinitely easier than optimizing for the Wii U, so even if the Switch's portable mode matches the Wii U in terms of power, it'll be much easier to port for the Wii U, and will be much, much cheaper to do so. The unforeseen technical issues are probably related to the Wii U's architecture and incompetence to optimize for it (and you can't really blame them for their incompetence if the only two companies who were able to optimize well for the Wii U so far — Nintendo and Shin'en — made games that were Wii U exclusive, and it's much easier to optimize for a single system than for 3+PC)
@rjejr don't worry mate, not long until we start getting 'real' news again. It's been a ghost town on here lately eh!?!
@SeriousSam Actually, they are allowing refunds, but at least my call for a refund hasn't been adressed yet (even though I did it back when the Wii U cancellation was announced) and rumors are going around they might not even give the refunds until 2018!
Its plain ridiculous how fast a company can loose previous fans.
The Switch version is pretty much confirmed, so don't see why people are whining about coverage. They're just not allowed to say until the Nintendo. The fact they've said they'll reveal more about allowing Kickstarters to upgrade to Switch in January tells you that.
I think it was a damn shame these guys cancelled the Wii U version, I thought for sure, regardless, THIS game would make it to Wii U. Made me genuinely mad & I will simply not be getting this game at all now, on Switch or anything else.
Anyway you look at it, Color Splash was the Wii U's dying breath. Breath of the Wild on Switch will vastly outsell the Wii U version. If I was an Indie I would gamble on Switch just because it's actually beginning it's life cycle.
@rjejr It is confirmed for Switch, though. Only thing missing is a release window (and I get a feeling that's because we're gonna learn about that next week).
Don't give them free advertisement and hype until their stance on Nintendo consoles is made incontrovertibly clear.
@BlueKnight07 I got Color Splash after Christmas and I'm really enjoying it, great game, in my opinion.
@roboshort That's nothing more than video game industry lingo for "no comment".
@ricklongo It's definitely not confirmed for Switch. The only thing that's been confirmed is that they're interested in bringing the game to Switch, which is tantamount to saying there's no plans to bring it to Switch at this point.
I still prefer the actual Rare, with Gregg Mayles, Robin Beanland and co. Sea of Thieves looks awesome.
@ULTRA-64 "It's been a ghost town on here lately eh!?!"
I know I haven't posted on here in a few weeks due to my meltdown over this game. Obviously I still haven't gotten it out of my system and probably should have stayed away. I was looking forward to having good things to say next week, but who knows.
@ricklongo "It is confirmed for Switch, though."
Who confirmed it, these guys? They need to say 1 honest thing before I believe anything they say, their track record is severely lacking.
MCV got the breakdown from writer Andy Robinson and Technical art director Mark Stevenson on why this decision was taken.
Robinson: We naturally have so many backers who opted for Wii U. Because of the size of the team, we couldn't take on all the consoles. You can imagine from a developer stand-point, that porting from PC to PS4 and Xbox One is slightly more straightforward than porting to Wii U.
I also think it feels right playing it on a Nintendo system to some people.
But the other versions will be fantastic as well.
Stevenson: We wanted to make sure that Wii U gets the right attention. There is a lot of nostalgia around Banjo, Banjo heralds from Rare's Nintendo's days, and we are all massive Nintendo fans as well.
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/06/playtonic_handling_wii_u_version_of_yooka-laylee_team17_porting_to_ps4_and_xbox_one
And besides, I haven't seen it confirmed, I've only seen them say they are working w/ Nitneod. That's nto a confirmation, it's a maybe at best.
"we are now working very closely with Nintendo to look to bring Yooka-Laylee to the upcoming Nintendo Switch. We're looking forward to exploring the opportunity and will have more details to share early next year."
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2016/12/yooka-laylee_rattles_away_from_wii_u_release
When they say - "Yes, it is coming to Switch, no ifs, and or buts, here's the date" then NL can cover it again. Until then, might as well stick w/ rumours.
I don't understand all these people whining about it not coming to the Wii U. These developers are in it for the money, as is pretty much every game company ever. They're not in it to give Wii U players a pat on the back. The Wii U is dead, and that's just the way it is. Hoping for anything else major to come to the Wii U is just pointless.
It's too bad that Wii U owners got the short end of the stick, but that's just how it goes sometimes. No one owes you anything.
Well, let's see if they can keep their promise for Switch version...
@BAN No, it is not video game lingo for "no comment". Video game lingo for no comment is simply something like 'We will look into it' or something to that effect. They would not say you can change to the PS4/Xbox1 version "or upgrade to the Nintendo Switch version when we announce further details in 2017." I would be very surprised if it did not come to the Switch in March.
@roboshort That is precisely what they said, though:
"We can however confirm the exciting news that we are now working very closely with Nintendo to look to bring Yooka-Laylee to the upcoming Nintendo Switch. We’re looking forward to exploring the opportunity and will have more details to share early next year."
Honestly, if you read that as any other way than "we want to bring this game to x platform but have no set plans to do so at this time" then you haven't been following the industry for very long, and are perhaps far too optimistic and trusting when it comes to such comments from developers. Don't forget that these are the same developers who explicitely stated "we will definitely be releasing this game on Wii U" for like two years, and who went so far as to say that they were so dedicated to the Wii U version that their internal team was handling the development of that version alongside the PC one and handing the other ports off to other studios. And, well, we know how that turned out...
Nice! An excellent team just got better! Super excited for Yooka-Laylee, a game in which in all honesty I never thought would be made. It has been far too long since we had a proper Banjo Kazooie type game.
By the time Playtonic is done getting every Rare dev there's gonna be nothing left for Microsoft.
@InternetBowser I don't think they would be making this game and certainly not on the scale that it is without us Nintendo fans backing.
@SLIGEACH_EIRE Having a game of this calibre cancelled is a bit of a blow to be sure, but the Wii U created it's own problems to an extent with its technical limitations. A game like Yooka Laylee isn't the most hardware intensive and yet the game struggles on the Wii U.
Playtonic still represents a better element of gaming to me; a group of individuals who are making this purely from a perspective of passion. Hopefully the Switch will shatter any future concerns regarding engine compatibility and technical issues.
All we can do then is hope it hits the next system sharpish!
@Dangerous25 Agreed, Color Splash is FANTASTIC. Totally above and beyond my expectations, which were "Why isn't this game like TTYD?" But while it is not TTYD, it is still a joy to play. So much great humor.
As for Y-L, I don't consider any confirmation it's coming to Switch true confirmation until it's out now, because it was "confirmed" for Wii U as well. So that trust has been broken, and only way to repair it is to actually release a Switch version, and not like 6 months after all the other versions please.
@SeriousSam @Luna_110 I honestly don't see why they couldn't keep their promise. I backed Shantae Half Genie Hero a while back for Wii-U and Way Forward ultimately delivered a game. Playtonic could have done likewise, but I'm holding out for a Switch announcement. We may end up with a better game. An N64 port would be the icing on the cake thoguh, even if the graphics were blocky!
@KirbyTheVampire "noone owes you anything." They owe me a game because I backed this project. Wii-U or Switch, I will play this on a Nintendo system.
@BAN It is not exactly what they said. You are cherry picking by not highlighting those parts that do not agree with your point such as them 'working closely with Nintendo' and that people who want to upgrade to the Switch version can wait for when more details are announced. That is about as close you can get to a confirmation without actually giving one. Since they are apparently working with Nintendo (their own words), they will likely not be allowed to fully announce the Switch version until Friday next week. I can very well be wrong, but I would just be quite surprised if I were.
As a Y-L backer with both a PS4 and Wii U I decided to go with the PS4 version early on, I was under the impression that by the time the game would release the Wii U would be even less relevant.
I truly believe they wanted to bring the game to Wii U and that it really was technical issues that's preventing them from doing so. Don't forget that the Wii U is practically dead and the Switch is around the corner, if you as a developer are struggling to get your game running on Wii U it may be better to just move the project to the Switch.
These guys are not just in it for the money, they love creating games and that's exactly the reason why they got together in the first place! They basically worked on Y-L in their own time for a month or longer and they also did this when working for Rare in the early days. Anyone not trusting these guys to do a good job or to do their best to support Nintendo consoles may want to do a bit of research on the team.
@roboshort I can't tell if you're being serious or if you're just messing with me. First of all, I can't even begin to imagine how my personal feelings or willingness to agree/disagree would be any kind of factor in determining what Playtonic have said on this issue. Your saying that just makes no sense. It's not some vague, ambiguous statement we're talking about here that anyone could interpret how they see fit, nor some controversial statement of opinion that could be disagreed with or otherwise based on principle. It's them flat-out saying "we are looking at what it would take to bring this game to Switch because that's something we'd like to do." I mean there's no wiggle room on either side here. Am I missing something?
Sorry, but it's just kind of bizarre to see someone try so hard to sell a concept that's so obviously not right. But by all means, go ahead and explain to me how this equates to a solid, take-it-to-the-bank, doubtless confirmation that this game is absolutely coming to Switch like you want to believe it is. I'm totally willing to accept that you're right if you can sell me on it, but to be honest it's a long shot, because it would require a fundamental change in the structures/mechanics and functions of the English language to get that statement to mean what you want it to in its current state.
And for the record, I couldn't personally care less about the game skipping Wii U, at least not in terms of its potential impact on me personally. I'll be able to play it regardless. And in fact, I'd prefer to play it on Switch. I also didn't contribute to the kickstarter. So I'm not sitting here fuming and feeling all spurned and looking to vent, which I get the feeling you suspect I am. Having said that, I don't believe that the studio is entirely defensible in their decisions and the way this game has panned out in the home stretch, and I do feel bad for people who were really looking forward to getting it on Wii U, especially those that donated to the kickstarter specifically because of the Wii U version.
@TwilightOniAngel
My point exactly. And despite myself owning an Xbox One, with one of the reasons for doing so being Rare Replay, I'm not complaining one bit for that. I would have been fine if we had seen something along the lines of Banjo-Threeie ever since the buyout, but given what happened in the following years, what with Grabbed By The Ghoulies, censoring Conker's Bad Fur Day on a console that's supposed to be for grownups to begin with, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and the following misuse of Rare for Kinect Sports... frankly, Microsoft had it coming on this front.
I can't quite understand the reporting of this story, so positive about the whole thing and the company. Yet then explaining the way they lied and are not to be trusted?
Keep your generic platformer, but don't worry if you did want it, cause if the switch sells well there'll come running.
Will be buying it on PC on a sale, not earlier and only if it ends up being a good game. The Wii U cancellation pr bs was just too much.
@yomanation
I was being sarcastic, y'know.... I know the Wii U version isn't coming due to the console being dead in the water, instead of "technical problems".
Doesn't make me feel any better about Playtonic, though.
Just in case anyone has forgotten (and it seems like almost everyone has, judging by the comments), Playtonic is still offering people upgrades to the Switch version, or... switching (oh the irony) to another platform, for those who backed through Kickstarter.
http://www.playtonicgames.com/yooka-laylee-reptile-rolls-towards-release/
http://www.playtonicgames.com/faq/
Again, I agree that Playtonic should have been more forward from the beginning that the Wii U might have too many problems with Unity. (They did indeed state the game would be made using Unity in the original funding campaign details.) I think people are forgetting how much trouble the Wii U has with Unity, due to system draw from the GamePad, and having such an outdated chipset- Espresso is practically an updated Wii chipset.
Weird how so many people on this site talk about "entitlement" being a widespread issue, yet as soon as a game comes along that people want, but ultimately can't fit in the way they want, they say the developer is "tainted" from their perspective. There's no guarantees when it comes to crowd funding, regardless of any "promises." I bet most of you didn't even bother to put your money where your mouth is and back it in any capacity. Talk about real entitlement...
I backed Yooka Laylee for a GOG version as soon as I read that it would be made using Unity. Reading these comments almost makes me inclined to share it, since I'll be able to make infinite copies of it using GOG... I wouldn't do that, though. What a heaping pile of salt. But this is nothing compared to when/if Breath of the Wild is canceled. I can't even imagine the tsunamis of salt if that happens...
The fact that they presumably haven't even started a Switch port is mind boggling. They should have contacted Nintendo for a development-kit moooooooooooooooonths ago, so the port could have been ready at launch. Now we have to wait till the end of 2017, or even longer (if it happens). A shame!
@Henmii Nintendo is being way too secretive with Sandwitch details. Most companies couldn't even access it, only the bigger ones could. It's not that smaller companies like Playtonic didn't contact Nintendo... It's that Nintendo had no intention of letting smaller developers have a devkit until the release was near. Don't blame the little guys for Nintendo's decision.
@PlywoodStick,
That may be the case, its Nintendo after all. However, Playtonic should have cancelled the Wii u version many months ago and imediately announce a Switch version. Because we all knew down in our hearts that a Wii u version wouldn't happen anymore.
@Henmii Back in June, Grant Kirkhope and Steve Mayles did an interview with GameXplain, and even then, they had not yet even internally had any serious discussions on GamePad and Miiverse functionality, for the team to share publicly. That's right- not even two of the top employees had anything to talk about on the matter, circa E3 2016, even though the project was originally estimated to have an October 2016 release.
https://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=_Fgfae4-9hI @ 15:20 mark
That's how much trouble it was just to try to make a Wii U version. Some people just can't believe it, but there it is. That said, I do indeed agree that such risks should have been made abundantly clear from the beginning.
For me this game doesn't exist until they announce and ... actually release... it on the Switch.
@Dangerous25 I agree. I just meant it was the last hurrah.
Crowdfunding projects like this is always risky. Just ask the Mighty No. 9 backers. I do think enough has been seen so far to indicate that this game is not being released premature to and that development is in good hands. A Wii U cancellation is unfortunate but it makes the Switch an even better prospect if that is what happens.
Personally, I just want to see this game succeed so that Playtonic might give us more Rare magic in the future, even if the characters are different. Rare really was a major player in the SNES/N64 days. It would only help Nintendo if Playtonic games are made and released based on what's been seen so far.
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