Banjo-Kazooie Composer Has “Zero Hope” For New Game in the Franchise

gamingbolt.com:

Composer behind the original Banjo-Kazooie, Grant Kirkhope, has stated that he does not believe that a new game in the franchise will ever come out. Kirkhope posted in social media platform X, saying that, even if a new Banjo game were to come out, most fans of the originals would hate it anyway.

“I’ve said it before … but… 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,” posted Kirkhope on X.

For context, Kirkhope has been involved with the Banjo franchise since the first game, having worked on music for the original Banjo-Kazooie, the sequel Banjo-Tooie, as well as Xbox 360 title Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts. His comments on a potential sequel not happening came after answering a fan’s question on whether he would be open to working on a new game’s soundtrack. “Of course,” he responded.

This isn’t the first time that Kirkhope has spoken about how there will likely not be a new Banjo-Kazooie game. The composer revealed in an interview back in 2023 that the studio that originally made the game would be open to it if it had the right team for it, “but I don’t feel like that team exists,” said Kirkhope. “Also, I’m not convince the audience is there either.”

While no real news about a potential new Banjo-Kazooie sequel has popped up, Xbox executive Aaron Greenberg spoke about the franchise back in October, mentioning that he understands how much the franchise means to its fans. However, despite this statement, Microsoft has been quiet about the title despite having owned the IP for quite some time now. The most we’ve seen about Banjo-Kazooie is the inclusion of the first two titles to the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service, allowing players to play classic Nintendo 64 titles.

There have been rumours, however, that indicated that a new Banjo game might be in the works. These rumours stated that the new game would be a reboot of the original, with a complete