Tag: Playtonic
Feature Who Is Playtonic's Voice Of The People?
The driving force of change
Frances Williams, Head of People @ Playtonic Here at Nintendo Life we've followed Playtonic's journey since its inception back in 2015. We caught up with the team behind Yooka-Laylee and its follow-up Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair last year to see how the studio had grown and what they are working on next. During...
Video What's Going On At Playtonic, The Studio Behind Yooka-Laylee?
A Rare find
It was almost 10 years ago that a group of former Rare developers got together and established Playtonic Games. This was a team consisting of many of the minds behind Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong Country, and other such classics, so when their first title, Yooka-Laylee was released in 2017, we were relieved to see that level of creativity...
News Nintendo Goodies Up For Grabs In Playtonic's Charity Auction For SpecialEffect
Update: Auction is live, including Banjo and DKC items
Update [Mon 3rd Oct, 2022 17:45 BST]: The auction items went up over the weekend. Up for grabs are various art prints featuring Playtonic Friends games and the developer's own Yooka-Laylee, plus retro-flavoured offerings from the creators of Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong Country, and others. There...
News Playtonic Celebrates 5 Years of Yooka-Laylee, Teases Some "Surprises"
What could it be..?
It's been 5 whole years since Playtonic's Yooka-Laylee launched (albeit Switch owners needed to wait a bit longer) and the publisher is looking to celebrate the milestone throughout the day, even teasing some "surprises". We'll be sure to keep an eye on Playtonic's feed and update on anything worthwhile, but we're absolutely...
News 'Yooka-Laylee' Creator Playtonic Expands With Second Studio
"We want to broaden our reach, without going too far"
Playtonic Games, the studio behind the Yooka-Laylee series, has opened a second office in the UK town of Leamington Spa. Playtonic – which was founded in 2015 by former Rare staffers – recently gained investment from the Chinese giant Tencent. It has released two games so far,
News Playtonic's Original Yooka-Laylee Game Is Getting A Follow-Up Title
A new adventure is on the way
In a bit of a shock announcement earlier this week, Playtonic - the UK developer comprised of former Rare veterans and known for titles such as Yooka-Laylee - revealed Chinese video game giant Tencent had acquired a minority stake in the business. If it's got you wondering what's to come, in an interview with friends...
News Playtonic Announces Tencent Investment And Major Expansion Plans
"Things are going to get Bat Ship Crazy over the next few years"
Playtonic has undergone rapid expansion since its initial Kickstarter success with Yooka-Laylee over six years ago, with a number of Rare veterans on board. It followed that up with the rather good Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair, before delving into publishing last year with...
Book Review Flicking Through The Vibrant World Of Yooka-Laylee And The Kracklestone
Over a hundred pagies long
The spiritual successor to the legendary bear and bird besties, Yooka-Laylee, nearly shook the earth when they were revealed through a Kickstarter project by Playtonic Games, the brand new studio made up of ex-Rare developers. Since the original reveal back in 2015, the team has managed to put out not just one, but two...
The perfect (Play)tonic
In these trying times we could all do with a some relief - a little pick-me-up to get us through the day. When we're feeling blue, throwing on some classic Rareware tunes from the likes of Donkey Kong Country and Banjo-Kazooie perks us up no end. As luck would have it, both composers behind those winners feature on the...
"What’s changed? So far as I can tell, not a lot!"
Earlier this week, Playtonic Games announced that veteran character artist Ed Bryan was joining the team behind Yooka-Laylee on a full-time basis. The ex-Rare man has been away from the games industry since leaving Rare eight years ago, but now reenters the fray as Playtonic enjoys the success of...
News Escape 'The Impossible Layer' In Playtonic's New Yooka-Laylee-Inspired Mario Maker 2 Course
Celebrating Impossible Lair's launch
Having released Yooka-Laylee and The Impossible Lair to great reviews just yesterday, we'd like to think the good folks over at Playtonic Games are sitting with their feet up, relaxing after shipping one of them there vidya games. Of course, as with all devs who have just shipped a game, they're probably still...
News Playtonic Devs Recall The Trials And Errors Of Making Yooka-Laylee
"We all knew where the issues were."
Playtonic Games - the studio grown primarily from ex-Rare staff - struck gold with its idea to crowd fund a Banjo-Kazooie-style collectathon revival via Kickstarter. Raising over £2 million for 3D platformer Yooka-Laylee, the devs were hugely successful in tapping nostalgia for the kind of game that had fallen...
News Team17 And Playtonic Games Share Super Mario Maker 2 Levels For You To Play
Can you beat them?
If you're on the lookout for some new Super Mario Maker 2 levels to enjoy, hopefully these creations from Team17 and Playtonic Games will do the trick nicely. There are two courses on offer from Team17 - the studio behind Switch games like My Time at Portia, Overcooked,
News Yooka-Laylee Dev Playtonic Games Teases New Game Reveal
And we won't have long to wait
Yooka-Laylee developer Playtonic Games looks set to share details on its next game as soon as tomorrow, according to a cheeky tease. Lovingly crafted from some of the creative talent behind games like Banjo-Kazooie and Donkey Kong Country, Yooka-Laylee is currently the first and only game from the UK-based studio...
News The Next Yooka-Laylee Adventure Will Be A Crowd-Funded Graphic Novel
Kickstarter runs until 16th November
Yooka-Laylee started out life on Kickstarter and went on to become the fastest video game project to hit $1 million on the crowd-funding platform. Following their first outing on the Switch and multiple other systems, the bat and chameleon are now ready for their next adventure. The only catch is it'll take on...
News Looks Like Playtonic Is Ready To Reveal Its Next Game
Plus "extra content" for Yooka-Laylee
UK studio Playtonic has broken its silence to celebrate the first birthday of Yooka-Laylee, as well as hint that it's about to lift the lid on its next project. In a recent blog post, Playtonic said: Yes, hands up, we’ve been a bit quiet for a while. But we promise it’s because we’ve been far too busy...
News This Playtonic Art Could Be The Closest We'll Get To Seeing Banjo-Kazooie And Switch Together
Former Rare artists celebrate their Nintendo past
To celebrate the long-awaited release of Yooka-Laylee on Switch, Playtonic's artists have been paying tribute to their past connection with Nintendo. As you know, Playtonic's core team is made up of former Rare staffers who worked on some of the company's most famous NES, SNES and N64 era titles...
News TriForce Announces The Yooka-Laylee Collector-Boxie
10-inch statue of your favourite buddy duo
TriForce - a creator of high-end, officially licensed scale replicas of famous video game characters - has revealed its next venture, and it's likely to be of interest to fans of Playtonic's Yooka-Laylee, which is due out on Switch some time in the near future. The company is producing a 10-inch...
Hands On Striking a Chord with Yooka-Laylee
UPDATE: Switch version reconfirmed, coming "very soon"
UPDATE: Mere moments after we published this feature, it was confirmed during the Nindie Direct that the Switch version of Yooka-Laylee will be launching "very soon" and will feature all of the game's multiplayer modes. ORIGINAL STORY: The employees over at Playtonic have been through a lot to...
News Legendary Former Rare Character Artist, Kev Bayliss, Joins Playtonic to Work on Yooka-Laylee
Credited with DK's Country design, Killer Instinct work and much more
The words 'Rare' and 'Legend' go together very often, and we try not to use them unless they're necessary. In the case of former company Character Artist / Graphics Director Kev Bayliss it's a fair description, however, and the pleasing news is that he's now joined Playtonic...
News Team17 Is Publishing Yooka-Laylee And Wants To Produce A Physical Version
“There is a large demand for a physical game”
UK veteran Team17 is publishing Playtonic's Yooka-Laylee, it has been announced. The 3D platformer raised more than £2M via Kickstarter earlier this year, and is coming to the Wii U. Team17 will assist with localisation, certification, QA, marketing and other business concerns. Here's what...
News Playtonic Happy to Move Away From "Box-Ticking" Culture At Microsoft-Owned Rare
Creative lead Gavin Price talks about fresh beginnings
Yooka-Laylee has been hailed as a platforming rebirth created by some of the UK's most talented developers, and has recently become one of Kickstarter's most acclaimed success stories. Developer Playtonic - which is made up of former Rare staffers and, in recent months, has added more in the...
Exclusive Behind The Scenes On Playtonic's Yooka-Laylee
Meeting with a Rare breed of developers
They say that the apple never falls far from the tree, and that's certainly true of UK startup Playtonic Games. Based on an industrial estate in the middle of the rolling English countryside, this team of former Rare developers is but a stone's throw away from the historic town of Ashby-de-la-Zouch, where Rare...
News Less Than A Day Old And Yooka-Laylee Already Has Lots of Awesome Fan-Art
Now that's a Rare sight
It's been less than a day now since Playtonic Games lifted the lid on its upcoming game, Yooka-Laylee, and already the Internet has gone fan-art crazy. This is all before the Kickstarter campaign has even gone live, too, emphasizing the hype around this project. We've picked out some early winners in the fan-art stakes for...
News Playtonic Releases First Animated Footage From Banjo-Kazooie Successor Project Ukulele
As a "Thank You" for reaching 30,000 followers on Twitter
Playtonic Games - a UK studio made up of former Rare staffers - has released the first footage from its Banjo Kazooie "spiritual successor", Project Ukulele. The short clip - posted via Vine on Twitter - shows a minion character from the game hopping from foot to foot. It's a good i
News Former Rare Devs Playtonic Want Donkey Kong Country Villain K. Rool In Super Smash Bros.
"Let's get another of our artists' beautiful children into the fight"
Nintendo has opened up voting to see which characters its fans want to see in Super Smash Bros., and this has predictably led to some rather outlandish recommendations. UK studio Playtonic - made up of former Rare developers - has thrown its hat into the ring by suggesting fans...
News First Screens From Banjo-Kazooie Spiritual Successor Are Revealed, Kickstarter Coming In May
Former Rare developers considering amiibo-style NFC figures
Last month we reported on the news that a group of former Rare developers had formed their own company - Playtonic - and were looking to create a "spiritual successor" to the Banjo-Kazooie series. During this week's EGX Rezzed, Playtonic showed off the first screens from the new game -...
News Former Rare Developers Will Show Off Their New Game In March
Playtonic Games to present their first project at this year's EGX Rezzed
Earlier this month, we reported on the news that fledgling studio Playtonic Games - made up of former Rare employees - is currently hard at work on a spiritual successor to the Banjo Kazooie series. It has now been confirmed that the as-yet-unnamed release will be getting its...
News Meet Playtonic, A Studio Of Ex-Rare Staff That Wants To Work With Nintendo
"Spiritual successor" to Banjo-Kazooie on the way
A group of former Rare employees has banded together to establish a new studio which is now working on a spiritual successor to the Banjo-Kazooie series. Speaking to EDGE magazine, the core members of Playtonic - Gavin Price, Chris Sutherland and Steve Mayles - have explained how they recently...
