After reports that an Xbox exec said “nobody cares about Banjo-Kazooie,” he’s correcting the record: “I absolutely know how much Banjo-Kazooie means to our fans”
The 26-year-old platformer franchise matters
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A Spanish YouTuberreportedthat vice president of Xbox games marketing Aaron Greenberg said at a promotionalMicrosoftFlight Simulator 2024 event that “nobody cares about Banjo-Kazooie.” But Greenberg recently took to Twitter to deny those reports and assuage fans of the platformer series, who have been through enough.
Current publisherXbox Game Studioshasn’t released a main Banjo-Kazooie installment since 2008, when Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts launched for the Xbox 360. To make matters worse, some Banjo-Kazooie diehardsmaintainthat the 2008 game, in which players help the honeybear Banjo and tropical bird Kazooie construct vehicles, is too unlike the first two Banjo-Kazooie games and spoiled the franchise.
When the series debuted in 1998, Banjo-Kazooie was established as a frothy fantasy where players could run and fly around vivid 3D worlds, not a greasy auto body shop. Though, to its credit, Nuts & Bo still features the things I find critical to the series' authenticity, likeKlungo, the troll that looks like a booger.
In any case, Greenberg promises fans that Xbox execs haven’t totally forgotten Banjo-Kazooie.
“I absolutely know how much Banjo-Kazooie means to our fans and gamers everywhere,” he wroteon Twitter. “It holds a special place in my heart, growing up playing these classic games.”
“Of course…“repliedone disgruntled fan. “Banjo is so important, let’s never revisit or make another game ever again! Lol.” Listen, we’re taking baby steps here. Maybe in another 15 years, Xbox will finally figure out a way to bring Banjo and Kazooie back from the dead.
Banjo-Kazooie enter the Nintendo 64 Multiverse in an incredible-looking mod that spans Pokemon, Conker, and FPS classic Goldeneye.
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Ashley Bardhan is a critic from New York who covers gaming, culture, and other things people like. She previously wrote Inverse’s award-winning Inverse Daily newsletter. Then, as a Kotaku staff writer and Destructoid columnist, she covered horror and women in video games. Her arts writing has appeared in a myriad of other publications, including Pitchfork, Gawker, and Vulture.
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