Microsoft is reportedly exploring the revival of the Banjo Kazooie series, with Toys for Bob and Moon Studios among the studios being considered for development.
During the latest episode of VGC’s The Video Game Podcast, host Andy Robinson talked about Rare and what it will work on next after the recent cancellation of Everwild. He mentioned that the talk for ages was that there was always outside interest in the revival of the Banjo and Kazooie. series, but the studio wasn’t interested
According to Robinson, former Rare lead game designer Gregg Mayles, who resigned after the recent cancellation of Everwild, is someone who doesn’t look back, as he prefers to work on completely new projects. The attitude from the studio leadership was saying ‘no’ to working on existing IPs.
However, Robinson has now heard that the pitches for a Banjo Kazooie revival are being listened to. He specifically heard the names of Toys for Bob and Moon Studios as potential developers that are interesting in working on a new entry.
Moon Studios CEO Thomas Mahler believes that a Banjo-Kazooie title from the right developer could rival 3D Mario games. Earlier this year, he took to Twitter/X to talk about the Banjo-Kazooie IP, saying that Microsoft has been sitting on it, with nothing happening there. He believes that a really talented developer could probably make a new Banjo-Kazooie title that could rival 3d Mario and could probably sell similar numbers. He reminded that the Ori series sold more copies than the recent Donkey Kong Country games, despite the latter having Nintendo’s marketing power behind them. He believes that if Moon Studios would take over Banjo, it could make the IP thrive. Having spent over a decade designing these platformer games, he believes he has proven that he knows what he’s doing in that regard.
