‘Banjo-Kazooie’ Series Composer Says New Game Still “Unlikely”, Odds Are “Probably Better Than Zero But Not Much”
It seems current and future generations of players will never get to know Mumbo Jumbo, Gruntilda, or even the concept of Jiggies, as Banjo-Kazooie series composer Grant Kirkhope unfortunately believes that the production of a new entry in the fan-favorite Rare franchise is all but completely out of the question.
Kirkhope, a veteran industry who in addition to providing the music for all but one of the Banjo-Kazooie games (the exception being the GBA-exclusive racing game Banjo Pilot) has also provided his talents to such seminal soundtracks as those belonging to GoldenEye 007, the Mario + Rabbids series, and the Yooka-Laylee duology, offered this disappointing admission during a recent interview given to Eurogamer editor Ed Nightingale.
Amidst a larger conversation regarding the ins and outs of his guest’s career, Nightingale eventually raised the topic of Kirkhope’s January assertion, as posted to his personal Twitter account in January, that, “I have zero hope for another Banjo game, plus all you die hard fans would instantly hate it and slag it off no matter how good it was , it never works.”
Proceeding to ask the musician as to whether or not he would “like to revise that statement” now that the dust had settled around it, Kirkhope instead affirmed, “I just think it’s unlikely.”
“I don’t know many people left at Rare, I do know a few, and I feel like Rare don’t have the appetite to get involved,” said Kirkhope. “Microsoft would stand back and say ‘you sort it out’ and Rare would have to do all the heavy lifting, so that’s one factor. Another factor is it’s got to be down to money. That will be the overriding factor. If you think I’ve got a hundred and something thousand followers on my Twitter, and that’s the Banjo bubble, if that’s all it is then that’s not going to make any money. You need millions of people to buy the game, and you’ve got to sell it to a whole new generation of kids.”
Continuing on, the composer then noted “Also, Rare would never do it, so they’d have to find another studio that could do it, that get the humour.”
“I feel the humour of Banjo is really essential and it’s got that Brit flavour to it and that’s not easy to get for people who aren’t British sometimes,” he explained. “You’d have to find the team that’s got the passion for it and the humour. I just think they’d have to present Rare with a really good idea as to why it could work again, what could they make different about it, how could the story continue. Taking all that into account, I think it’s unlikely.”
“Obviously you’ve got Toys for Bob saying they’d love to do it and Moon Studios’ director mentioned they think there’s still life in the IP,” Kirkhope added. “They’re two pretty big studios, they know what they’re doing. Whether Microsoft would give the ok, I don’t know. Would they involve me? I don’t know, probably not. Zero is probably a bit of a heavy estimate, it’s probably better than zero but not much.”
As this particular part of their conversation drew to a close, Kirkhope was ultimately asked by Nightingale if he would ever personally considering working on another Banjo-Kazooie game, to which the composer resoundingly confirmed, “In a heartbeat.”
“But sometimes people want to relaunch a game and they don’t want the old guys to get involved,” he then lamented. “So they might want another composer. I’d certainly love to do it. Whether I’ve still got any more Banjo left in me I don’t know, but I’d have a good go.”
More About:Video Games