After a few days of heavy speculation, Yooka-Laylee developer Playtonic Games has released a statement clarifying it will not be developing a new Banjo-Kazooie game for Microsoft. The studio, which is composed of a number of ex-Rare developers and built Yooka-Laylee as a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, denied rumors that it had been purchased by Microsoft to develop a new game on its official Twitter account.
A statement from us! pic.twitter.com/nZHqI5GaYe
— Playtonic (@PlaytonicGames) November 6, 2019
The rumors in question started after former Rare developer and Mumbo Jumbo creator Ed Bryan joined Playtonic Games. Just a day before the announcement of his new home, Bryan posted the following image:
Well, I never really had any plans to use this again. pic.twitter.com/r3wS18vrrR
— Ed Bryan (@ItsMingyJongo) November 3, 2019
After Playtonic’s co-owner, Gavin Price, changed his LinkedIn profile to tease the next three games he has planned, and with X019 just around the corner, many had started to believe Microsoft was adding yet another developer under its belt to prepare for its next-generation console. Now, at least, we know that if there is a new Banjo-Kazooie game on the way, Playtonic Games knows nothing about it.
As the developer said in its tweet, they would “love to work with the bear and bird again,” but the decision just isn’t theirs to make.
The indie developer released Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair for PC, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One last month to a positive reception.
