Banjo-Kazooie Composer Grant Kirkhope Doesn't Know If There's A Market For A New Game

"Rare need to find somebody like that who gets the game, who really loves it, gets the humour, comes up with a great plot and then kicks on."

coughplaytoniccough

I don't see a game happening anytime soon

They just need to NOT exclusively release it on the Dudebro pew pew console (AKA Xbox).

Then it will sell well.

Most Xbox gamers just don’t appreciate Banjo type games like Nintendo fans do. You could see it in all of the cookie cutter edgy games they showed off at the Xbox E3 presentation this year. That is their audience and who the primarily cater to.

"When really, I’m just a composer."

True.

@GetShulked just like cuohead and lucky tail, just for xbox and Switch. New B-K game would sell good that way. I think a lot of Rare fans has a Xbox?

@KazooieTooie
Those are the outliers. small group of Anomalies.
There is a reason that Nintendo has and receives infinitely more of those types of games than Xbox does.

@Xelha
I would love remakes in the updated style Smash received!

Im here. Banjo is my favorite game of my childhood and will double dip if they go on switch. Dont worry about a new game yet

There is a market for these games just not on Xbox, I can only dream of a world where Microsoft never bought Rare and imagine what games we would have got instead. Put Rare Replay on Switch and let's see how much demand there is for these games

Listen to your people rare... we are speaking loud and clear.... give us banjo ports

@PBandSmelly
You sure we played the same game?

I mean, I backed the game because B-K is one of my all-time favourite games. At first I played the PS4 version and it did not click, there were a few annoyances like not being able to skip or speed dialogue. Stopped playing after reaching the first world.

Fast forward to now where I gave in, bought the Switch version and noticed they patched most of my original complaints. The game is tons of fun, gives a similar vibe to Banjo and the gameplay is pretty solid overall.

It may not be the golden standard that is B-K but I sure had a good time and I have no idea where all the hate stems from. I would truts Playtonic with B-K3, they would get a bigger budget and could also make use of better more costly engines too.

Oh and don't call Sea of Thieves a gigantic game, it's small in every way from vision to content and even sales and before anyone brings up Gamepass, Forza Horizon still sold in big numbers despite that service and I say all of this as someone who had quite a bit of fun with it.

There is a market for it, but that market is Nintendo and not Xbox.
Keep it in the old style not nuts and bolts

Considering the success of Mario Odyssey, Spyro, A Hat in Time, and Crash, it goes without question there is a market. I also don't think it'd be a speck of dust in Xbox's library of games, and it'd help massively if they decide to get it out for the Switch as well.

You do bloody know, we keep telling you.

You can always talk to JonTron to see if he can convince everyone to demand it. That man loves the crap out of Banjo-Kazooie.

Drop Sea of Thieves support and make Banjo Threeie. Problem solved.

What does a composer have to do with development of a game? This article is a bit of a stretch.
What we need is Rare to say yes (or no) we are bring rare replay to switch

The same thing people said about Crash Bandicoot and Spyro and look what happened! I think there is still a market for a Banjo-Kazooie. The Spyro Reignited Trilogy comes close to the style of a B-K game and it sold pretty well.

They should just do the same thing as Activision did with Crash and Spyro and remake the first two games. But someone else should be in charge of the B-K and B-T remake since the current people at Rare have a completely different mentality and have also no connections to the past of Rare.

They are more interested in their own games like Sea of Thieves, which sold also pretty well from what I heard and kids love this game. Although I still can not understand why. For me, it is just a pretty looking water simulation.

@Anti-Guy **Absolutely there is a market** – and it's still an under-crowded market. It's the one area of gaming (well... and rail shooters) that has a huge fanbase and mass-market appeal that is sorely under represented. Personally I think any dev teams that are not considering a 3D platformer at this time are barking mad – if they make a reasonably good game it's destined for success and to be remembered.

BTW where the heck is A Hat in Time for Switch? Not a peep since it's 'Spring release.

"When really, I’m just a composer."
I'm glad he said it. The man is super talented and a legend in the industry but he's not in data analysis or marketing, he has no idea if there is a market for this. That is literally a job unto itself.

I agree with most people- the market exists, its just that market doesn't own an Xbox One. They own a Switch. So would Microsoft invest that sort of money into a game for Nintendo's platform, when the next Xbox is due out in a year and in need of awesome exclusives?

I say fat chance. If a Banjo game makes it to Switch, it'll be the end of Xbox as we know it. With PlayStation using Microsoft servers for PSN, Xbox IP selling better on non Xbox consoles, Microsoft already owning the PC platform, and streaming looming, there'd be no reason for Microsoft to maintain Xbox as its own separate platform

This again, huh?

I finally started using my wife's XBOne, and am picking up Rare Replay tomorrow for like $4 used. As much as I love the original Banjo-Kazooie, I don't think a new game would succeed (look at Yooka-Laylee.) I'd rather see the first game (or two) get a remake, like Crash & Spyro got.

Since when a composer's words count?

@Xelha This, remasters of the first two as E-Shop downloads would be nice...
I think that's the best we could realistically hope for.

There absolutely would be a market for a new Banjo-Kazooie game, especially if it were made to the same AAA quality that the original games were relative to their time (particularly in terms of pushing the presentation and graphics). Just look at how popular the new/remake/remaster Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Crash Racing, WipEout, etc., games have been.

Honesty they’d be stupid NOT to make another game. Yeah the series is old, but given the hype for the Banjo-Kazooie smash reveal, it’s obvious there’s a ton of fans still out there. I would buy the game in an instant, although I would hope to god it’s on Nintendo instead of Xbox. As much as I love Xbox, I lost trust in any Banjo titles they could make after Nuts and Bolts came out.

@GetShulked I guess you ment Playstation.

Microsoft must know it is worth their time to port Rare Replay to Switch. Just do a Nintendo Edition and remove the Xbox games if needed. Or work with Nintendo so that the Donkey Kong games, Diddy Kong Racing and Star Fox Adventures can be included. I imagine it would sell well in all territories on Switch. And might give Microsoft more exposure in Japan.

Rare " doesn't have the appetite" for anything these days. One of the most innovative studios around and Microsoft turned them into a Kinect centric studio that pushed out crappy games. The last thing we had from them was Sea of Thieves, which for the most part was a flop.

Easiest test would be to bring the N64 games to Switch like porting Rare Replay for example.

I wouldn't trust modern Rare to be able to tie their own shoes in the morning let alone make a decent game. All the Banjo devs went and made their own company, and their spiritual successor ended up being incredibly divisive. There is a market but it's not a huge one from what I can see.

People do realise that what excites the comments section of a Nintendo website doesn't necessarily equate to what gets the general game buying public excited right? If game site comments sections we're a gauge of general public opinion then Call of Duty games would have stopped being released years ago and EA would have gone out of business way back.

I think low price retro collections actually often sell better these days than all new sequels.

I'd be happy with the Xbox 360 remasters being released on Switch at this point. At least then they could get a better gauge of the demand for a new title and go from there.

@brunojenso I mean, we're getting Panzer Dragoon now. Things are looking up~

Even if there isn't a market for a NEW game, you can give us remakes or a re-release or even a Rareware rewind on Switch to give us the best Rare games, like Perfect Dark, Conker and both Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie.

@Rubbercookie Yeah that's amazing! Panzer Dragoon. Wowzers – I watched quite a few entertaining E3 Direct reaction videos - but hardly anyone reacted much to that – many didn't even seem to recognise it or it's name!?*!# What the heck. Anyway - yes I'm very excited for what I think is the Switch's first traditional arcade-style on-rails shooter.

Not many have mention New Super Lucky's Tale either when announced – I'm hyped for that despite the mixed reviews. It looks very focused on the platforming above all – which even Odyssey skimped out on. It looks more akin to 3D World and Land – which despite the unpopular opinion – I found to be far far more fun than Odyssey.

So basically Banjo Kazooie are about to become the only characters on the Smash Ultimate roster with no new games in development outside Captain Falcon

Damn that's kind of funny.

EDIT: oh yeah k rool too so basically if you're from rare you got screwed big time

@carlos82 If MS didn't buy Rare. Activation, Disney... etc would have just bought them instead, or they would have went out of business.

Nintendo obliviously didn't care about supporting Rare financially or they would have them bought years ago, or would have offered more when trying purchase them ( Nintendo declined to offer more than a fraction of the value Rare was asking)

@GetShulked The "dudebro" console meme kind of ran its course with the 360. X1 is more "for all types of gamers" than PS4 is at this point, and the "pew pew" thing isn't quite it.

As for a Banjo game on the console, have you seen the reception for Rare Replay? Or the recent X1X enhancement for the original Banjo games? They're certainly putting money into those old Rare games, and fans are eating it up (myself included.)

As for E3, I don't know about all those cookie cutter edgy games, I dunno, Tales of Arise was my biggest non-Nintendo announcement this E3. Their E3 these days is no more "edgy" than Sony's shows (when they have them.) (as long as we don't go back to the early X1 era and X360 era.) They changed since then.

I agree Nintendo would be the best audience for a Banjo game, of course, but don't discount the XBox audience. If anything I'd say the Sony audience is the one that expects the same type of tone all the time. The XBox platform has become one of sort of arcade-ish Sega-ish, and lots of retro play, and in a lot of ways I think the XBox and Nintendo audience are more similar now than the Sony audience. Don't knock it if you haven't tried it or believe the old hype.

(I have all 3 platforms. Switch is my #1, and while I was all in on PS4 early on, I've since changed my opinoin and X1X has become my #2 platform with PS4 coming in last, albeit still well loved for some of the games.) Lots of fun retro Sega goodness and such on X1, and a lot of "spiritually Sega-ish" first party stuff (Halo and Gears aside.) It's a lot more arcade to contrast Sony's cinematic. Much more...Nintendo-like....

@brunojenso 3D World is pretty universally lauded really. Land is somewhat underrated as the proper game doesn't start until you beat the final boss, that kinda pacing put some people off.

Where Odyssey goes it has a billion power moons to the point you stumble over them everywhere, which definitely dilutes the actual platforming. Try sometime though doing only the moons ya gotta work for, minimal count for progression - the sum total platforming is pretty decent it turns out.

As for Lucky's Tale I'll def give it a try, being a kind of game I want. X1 crowd completely sleeping on it is something of a red flag though.

PS: After Panzer Dragoon I wouldn't mind some Star Fox and Sin&Punishment

@Rubbercookie Cool advice for an Odyssey playthrough – Thanks

Yeah some Classic Star Fox and Sin & Punishment would be great. I suspect we may never see another classically crafted Star Fox though – the tread is to turn everything 'open world'. But who knows

Is there a market for it? Definitely! Yooka Laylee was a succes right, on all platforms? Okay, not everyone was happy with the game in the end, but at least it showed people wanted that kind of game.