Microsoft has been on fire lately when it comes to studios and exclusive titles. Not only does the company have its own first-party studios that are well established, but they’ve also started a brand new company called The Initiative. Likewise, Microsoft went out to purchase ZeniMax Media which comes with a slew of studios and IPs as well. One of the biggest from that group is Bethesda. However, lately, it looks like Microsoft has been working on past IP titles.
While we can look at what’s already been released under Microsoft’s Xbox umbrella, there has been plenty of speculation of what’s to come. For instance, rumors were constantly flooding online on the secret project The Initiative has been working on. We, of course, now know that this project is a reboot to Perfect Dark. This announcement came from The Game Awards 2020, but now more rumors are circulating online about what Double Fine Productions is working on outside of Psychonauts 2.
Double Fine Productions was founded by Tim Schafer after his departure from LucasArts. With a following for his adventure games, Double Fine Productions had immediate interest from fans. However, with the company now under Microsoft’s Xbox umbrella, Tim is able to deliver video game titles without seeking publishers to help fund these projects. Currently, as mentioned earlier, Double Fine Productions is working on the sequel to Psychonauts, a title that launched back in 2005.
However, fans have been suggesting that this studio is also working on a reboot to a classic Nintendo 64 platformer. Nintendo 64 had a few notable video game titles and for fans of the platforming genre, you had the Banjo-Kazooie franchise. This game only had two mainline installments on the Nintendo 64 before finding a hiatus.
While there were a couple of spin-off mobile titles that launched in the early 2000s, the series wouldn’t get a new major installment until 2008 with Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts. This title wasn’t great, it lacked a lot of the charm and platforming that the series was known for. Since then, we haven’t seen a Banjo-Kazooie game release. Unfortunately, if you were hoping that Double Find Productions is working on a reboot or a new installment then you’re out of luck.
While there is a trend of remakes and reboots lately with the likes of Spyro or Crash Bandicoot, Tim Schafer confirmed on an IGN podcast that he’s not developing anything for the IP. Only time will tell if there is something else working on such a project, but for now, it looks like Banjo-Kazooie fans will have to wait and see if Microsoft picks this IP up again.
