The video game industry as a whole is arguably meant to do one thing: make video games that make people happy. That might sound like a “simplistic” thing to say, but at its core, that is the truth. Companies from all over the world make video games, and you can tell which groups are successful because of the number of people who play their games and aren’t afraid to shell out money to get them. Yet, many companies, such as Xbox/Microsoft, refuse to listen to gamers and their wishes, which is why Banjo-Kazooie is “MIA” from the gaming space outside of very small cameos and fighting game appearances.
Yesterday, the nail in their coffin arguably got its final “bash,” as Microsoft laid off over 9000 people within the Xbox gaming department, which encompasses numerous studios, some of which were shut down entirely. On ResetEra, one poster was commenting on the layoffs when they asked famous insider NateTheHate about the status of the rumored Banjo-Kazooie game that he had posted about a while ago. He noted the following:
“Haven’t heard an update on that in a while. I’d assume it was shelved at this stage. It did exist when we spoke of it a couple of years ago.”
While NateTheHate isn’t the “end all be all” of information, there are other pieces of info that help back up this notion. For example, a key member of Rare’s team, one who had been with the company since its beginning stages, left during the Xbox layoffs. As many fans noted, that means that not many of the original Rare team are left at the company.
Going further into this, one of Rare’s IPs, Perfect Dark, was SUPPOSED to be getting a modern reboot via The Initiative and FINALLY got a gameplay showing of it last year. Except, via the layoffs, The Initiative was full-on shut down, and the game was canceled after YEARS of teasing that it was coming. There were even reports that the footage shown last year was basically “fake!”
So, given all that, can we really be surprised that Banjo-Kazooie isn’t coming back? There have been reports for years that Xbox didn’t really care about the IP, and their solo attempt to make a title from it was a disaster that still rubs fans the wrong way today.
The best we can hope for is that someone like Nintendo strikes a deal with Microsoft to allow them to continue the franchise. Whether that happens or not is anyone’s guess.
