There are times when you have to wonder why a video game developer or publisher does what it does. We’ve seen that plenty recently when multiple developers were told by a respected publisher to make live-service titles, only for those titles to be canceled after years of work. Sony is catching plenty of flak for that, as you can imagine. However, Microsoft isn’t exempt from this, as fans have been begging them to make a new Banjo-Kazooie title, and the company hasn’t done that despite having the original team from Rare there to do it. Now, another studio is calling out the Xbox brand for not bringing the iconic duo back.
Thomas Mahler, who happens to be the CEO of Moon Studios who has done some really great platforming titles over the years featuring Ori, went onto Twitter to make his case known, and he had some great points overall after being asked a certain question by a fan:
“Xbox doesn’t really have any family friendly titles now, at least nothing of quality that they’re known for. That’s what I hoped Microsoft would see in Ori, but Xbox is clearly about Halo, Gears and Forza and nothing else really got all that much attention. They also have been sitting on Banjo-Kazooie with nothing happening there even though a really talented developer could probably make a Banjo game that could rival 3d Mario and probably sell similar numbers.”
Now, obviously, this is just his personal opinion on how a return title for the two could go. It’s hard to say that a new entry would do “Mario Numbers,” especially since the game’s last entry is the most hated in the series, and many felt that it wasn’t “really a true entry in the franchise.” That kind of thing does make a difference. Plus, if you recall a certain epic platformer that Sony made last year that won Game of the Year, it didn’t even sell 2 million in two months, and Mario’s incredible Odyssey sold that in like three days.
That being said, if Moon Studios or anyone else were given the chance to step up to the plate and deliver something special featuring Banjo and Kazooie, that would not only make fans happy, but it could give Xbox another franchise to work on going forward, which most people would agree is what it desperately needs.
Hopefully, this franchise doesn’t keep getting relegated to the “history bin,” as fans don’t want that at all.
