Xbox head Phil Spencer is well aware that plenty of you out there want a new Banjo-Kazooie game, as he talks about revisiting older titles.
Banjo-Kazooie is a bit of an odd series. It had two beloved platformers on the N64, a couple of fine-looking Game Boy Advance games, and didn’t receive a true sequel until 2008’s Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts (i.e. Tears of the Kingdom before Tears of the Kingdom, even if it wasn’t executed… perfectly). And while it doesn’t have the largest fan base in the world, it certainly has a passionate one; certainly passionate enough to get the attention of Spencer. In a recent interview with Windows Central, Spencer spoke about a range of topics, including Game Pass on other platforms, as well as looking back at certain titles Microsoft could revive.
“You’ve seen from our history that we haven’t touched every franchise that people would love us to touch – Banjo fans, I hear you,” Spencer said. “But it is true that, when we find the right team, and the right opportunity, I love going back to revisit stories and characters that we’ve seen previously.”
The Xbox head also spoke about older Blizzard games in particular, something he’s expressed interest on previously, noting that “really what I’d want to do is work with Blizzard’s leadership to see where they have passion. I say all this, but I’m not at all suggesting that Blizzard doesn’t have passion for reviving franchises too, I know that from my visits to the team. They absolutely have the passion in this area. There’s a lot of excitement for possibilities that we can all do together.
“But also, I want our fans and customers to know that I don’t bring up games just to tease to no end … if people have watched how we’ve teased things in the past. There’s usually some kind of reconciliation of those hints later on … I’m not one to try and lead people on. It might not happen on the timeline that people would love, but usually when I tease, there’s something there.”
Whether we get a new Banjo game, or any other older dormant title, is still a bit up in the air, but at the very least, Spencer’s seen your tweets. Hey, at least the musical bear is in Smash Bros, right?