Over the years, there have been plenty of rumours, speculation, and pure wishful thinking from gamers hoping for a new Banjo-Kazooie. On top of that, various Xbox executives have, from time to time, said positive things about Rare's classic duo, which has been interpreted as them considering bringing them back to life.
But... as you know, of course, nothing has happened. Interest remains, however, and when Asha Sharma launched an Xbox suggestion box a few months ago, it turned out that a new Banjo-Kazooie is the single game most Xbox players are hoping for. But recently, Xbox Executive Vice President Matt Booty said they're open to letting an external studio make a new game featuring the bear and the bird, and now we know of a team that would be eager to take on the project.
The former Activision-owned studio Toys For Bob is currently working on Spyro: A Realm Beyond, which is set to launch next year, and while speaking to Kinda Funny Games, studio head Paul Yan jokingly responded to the question of whether they'd ever discussed the possibility of developing Banjo-Kazooie by saying, "How frequently, you mean."
Associate creative director Lou Studdert also participated in the interview, and is also extremely positive about the idea:
"It's a franchise we love. As platformer fans, Banjo's the top of the heap. We have huge, huge fans of that franchise on our staff. You know, I'm talking they have the Jiggy as their profile pic, that sort of thing, that level of fan. We love the franchise."
Regarding the chance to develop a new Banjo game, Studdert said, "if the opportunity ever arose, that'd be amazing."
Toys for Bob has a good working relationship with Activision and Microsoft, not least thanks to their history and the fact that the parties are working on the next Spyro adventure, so let's just keep our fingers crossed that Asha Sharma and Matt Booty listened to the podcast above and will get the ball rolling.