Another Xbox Games Showcase has come and gone, and once again, fans were left disappointed to learn that there won't be a new Banjo-Kazooie this time around either. That doesn't mean the race is over, though, because when GamesRadar recently interviewed Xbox executive vice president Matt Booty, he was asked whether independent studios might be able to take on the company's classic franchises, most notably Banjo-Kazooie.
And... while he didn't exactly say yes, we didn't hear him say no either:
"We're in the great position that we have our first-party studios, we have first-party publishing, who [get] to work with great partners, like Kojima [Productions], and we also have all of our great third-party partners from around the industry. We've got ID@Xbox, which brings in so many great partners that are kind of on a different part of their game development journey. It's all of it. So, I think the answer is there are options to do all kinds of things, and we're certainly looking at those all the time."
Given that Xbox management has surely seen that Banjo-Kazooie is the game most requested by fans, we can certainly hope that they realise the PR value of actually taking action and unleashing the bear and the bird on a new adventure. They seem, at least, open to the idea.