Banjo-Kazooie Director Marks Departure From Rare With A Poem

He can now join Playtonic Games.

Is anyone from the Nintendo-era still at Rare?

@HammerGalladeBro
I only have one game by Rare, Starfox Adventures on GameCube, but I still neglected the game due to poor control of Starfox movements.

Pleaseee can he join Playtonic or Nintendo.

Every now and then, I still wonder about that alternate timeline where Nintendo actually bought Rare and kept them on as a 2nd party developer and wonder how different things these days would have been...

I just woke up and read the headline. I thought the final word said “porn” instead of poem. I was VERY confused, but equally curious.

@Kraven
Sometimes you just have to go out with a bang.

Heres another poem sure to make some tear up-

Violets are Blue,
Roses are Red,
The Banjo Kazooie series,
Is pretty much dead.

That's right. I said it. Don't criticise my art.

Banjo-Kazooie is one of my favorite games of all time and my favorite on the N64, so it is sad to see the last sprinkle of it leaving Rare. Whishing him luck in the future! (Would be awesome if he were to join Playtonic)

Man, that headline is doing Mayles a huge disservice. He's been responsible for just about all of Rare's big endeavors from DKC to Banjo to Viva Piñata all the way up to Sea of Thieves. Heck of a legacy, that's for sure. Whether he does anything new in the future or not, I'm glad he was able to keep making such great games at Rare(even if they weren't Banjo-Threeie or whatever).

I expect Microsoft will announce the closure of the studio at some point. Just makes sense to abandon ship.

A very sad day for Rare, and the end of an era. We all knew they would ne er be a good fit for Microsoft. We only dream of the golden age of gaming when Rare were at the top. I can't help feel Microsoft are going to close the studio. Hopefully they will at least sell the franchises too.

From the very begining of Microsoft buying Rare it was obvious things were never going to be the same. Quite surprised this person lasted as long as they did because most of the others shipped out a long time ago. He must have been paid well.

Yeah, Rare just isn't what it used to be. Wonder if he'll make the jump to Playtonic, or another good studio that fits him. Still glad to see he had a good time while working for Rare!

Sorry for derailing the main topic, for anyone who didn't see the removed comment, it was something along the lines of "no tears shed from me" (not with those words, though) and pretty much the reply to me.

And yes, I'm expecting this comment itself to be removed at some point.

This was fun and clever. But his meter, if I'm talking about the right thing, was frustrating me while reading it.

There are only so so many cancelled projects one can take before one cancels oneself from the company. Good luck with the next step, Gregg.

How things would have been different had Microsoft not buy Rareware.

Is there any chance of Microsoft releasing Rare Replay on Switch and PS5?

Absolute disgrace what Microsoft did with Rare, and these cancellations are maddening!

Thanks, Mister Mayles, you worked on a lot of great games, which I enjoyed. Good luck with your next projects!

Thank you, Gregg. You were responsible in part for some of my best childhood gaming. Good luck on your future. I'm hoping he will join Playtonic-- Might as well.

@KayFiOS Probably not. Sea of Thieves it self probably makes enough money for them to keep the studio open. They plan on releasing a subscription-based feature for creating custom servers in 2026

@OstianOwl

One can dream, but I suspect the reality is that it wouldn't change much. Nintendo didn't pass on buying Rare arbitrarily- they almost certainly did so because they saw the writing on the wall ( from things like "key employee retirement" ), and realized Rare was going to enter a decline. Best plausible scenario? I think they would have entered a state similar to Camelot, where they grind out periodic second tier titles that mostly have people going "Damn, don't you remember back when Rare was really awesome?"

Maybe they'd get pigeon-holed as "The Donkey Kong Studio", but that strikes me as a very mixed blessing since it would likely mean no Retro or EPD games. I'm not at all sure it'd be worth gaining a bunch of past-their-prime DK games from Rare if it means losing Tropical Freeze and Bananza. And don't forget that the team which made Super Mario Galaxy ( and all the key titles thereafter )? Got its start making one of those post-Rare titles, DK Jungle Beat. There's a lot of potential for negative butterflies.

Wow this man is my videogame hero. So many of my favorite games were directed by him up to the great Sea of Thieves.
May you continue to make great games!

@metaphysician @OstianOwl
You've also got to bear (and bird) in mind that the alternative to being bought by Microsoft was actually being bought out by Activision as they were very close to acquiring them. Keep in mind, this was early 00s and Activision really started to run the likes of Crash and Spyro into the ground over the years with multiple releases of varying quality.
When you think about it, the alternative option would have likely been the Banjo series getting lots of games albeit of mediocre quality and a spoiled legacy.

@HugoGED This 100%. They need Gregg back to direct another 3D platformer. Maybe "Twooka Laylee" lol

@HammerGalladeBro those I found :
Paul Machacek
Chris Marlow
Robin Beanland

Louise O’Connor : Xbox games Studios, pas vraiment chez Rare..... mais bon.

Scoop him up Nintendo!!!

Isn't he the dude that killed Rare by not letting the studio work with their old IPs?

I guess this means Microsoft is finally going to force Rare to revisit their old IPs.

Much respect for the guy's work, sincerely, but eesh, that poetry! Don't quit your day job, man. Wait-

The management of Rare under Microsoft will always baffle. They were literally one of the premier developers during the nineties. But Microsoft seemingly bought them to do nothing with them.

I can't get over how bad MS managed Rare, and most of its studios honestly. Which makes this guy a hero, for putting up with it for this long

MS is just toxic to its own studios.

I'd love to see more Rareware games, and knowing Sea of Thieves is one makes me actually want it.

But will there be more? Doubtful.