Banjo Kazooie Dev Is Not Convinced People Want Another Game

Some of the developers who helped create Rare's iconic Banjo-Kazooie series have commented on the possibility of another entry in the series, and they aren't totally hopeful about it.

Grant Kirkhope, the composer of Banjo's theme music, told VGC that a third mainline entry in the series may never happen because of the difficulty in finding the right team to do it justice. Not only that, but Kirkhope said there might not be enough interest from fans to justify it.

"I feel like you'd have to get a team with the humor that we had back then and that's hard to replicate," he said. "I think Rare would be open to somebody if they found the right team, but I don't feel like that team exists. Also, I'm not convinced the audience is there either."

Lead programmer Chris Sutherland said, "I would hope that somebody is going to bring out something... some kind of sequel or 'next in line' game."

Another developer quoted in the piece, Steven Mayles, said his brother and current Rare creative director Gregg Mayles is the one who would make a decision about a new Banjo. According to Steven Mayles, Gregg "doesn't really like to look back and tread over old ground."

"He'd rather move on to new experiences--as far as he's concerned, he's been there, done that," he said.

The original Banjo-Kazooie game was released for the Nintendo 64 in 1998 with a sequel, Banjo-Tooie, coming in 2000. Both games were later ported to other platforms. Spin-offs followed in the ensuing years, including Banjo-Kazooie: Grunty's Revenge in 2003 for Game Boy Advance and Banjo-Pilot in 2005, also for Game Boy Advance. Another game, Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, was released in 2008 for Xbox 360..

A spiritual successor from developer Playtonic called Yooka-Laylee was released in 2020.

The characters Banjo and Kazooie also appeared in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as DLC fighters. The announcement of Banjo and Kazooie coming to Smash was met with a lot of excitement from fans, but whether or not there is enough genuine interest in actually making a new game remains to be seen.