Playtonic Games is mostly made up of developers that used to work at Rare, the studio known for the critically-acclaimed 3D platformer Banjo-Kazooie. It created the Banjo-Kazooie spiritual successor Yooka-Laylee, but a new theory making the rounds online claims that the studio may once again have the chance to work on a new Banjo-Kazooie game. However, fans shouldn’t get their hopes up.

Before we get into why this rumor shouldn’t be believed, here’s how it started. The rumor started on Resetera with the idea that Microsoft will announce more studio acquisitions at its XO19 event on November 14, with one such acquisition being none other than Playtonic Games. This idea came from Playtonic’s hiring of Ed Bryan, the Banjo-Kazooie character artist, and Bryan himself tweeting a photo of a Microsoft bag that he owned back in the day, saying that it was “coming out of retirement.”

Theorists then pointed out that Playtonic Games had re-registered itself as Playtonic Games Development Limited, and that its co-owner, Gavin Price, had updated his LinkedIn profile to reveal that the studio is working on its third, fourth, and fifth games. “One too which is the one I always thought would be game #1,” his profile says. With this “evidence,” it’s easy to see why some fans took this to be clues that Playtonic could be purchased from Microsoft and set to work on Banjo-Kazooie, but the studio itself has come out with a statement denying the rumors.

The rule of thumb when it comes to video game companies and Internet rumors is to ignore them, so Playtonic coming out to deny these claims is pretty much the final nail in the coffin of this theory. Even so, it generated quite a bit of excitement from fans who are hoping to see a next-gen Banjo-Kazooie game for Project Scarlett, though Microsoft itself hasn’t announced that such a project exists in any capacity.

Microsoft has been criticized over the years for buying Rare and its IP and letting the franchises fade into obscurity. The last Banjo-Kazooie game to come out was Nuts and Bolts on the Xbox 360, which was met with a mixed reception due to its departure from series norms. However, the bird and bear duo still have their fans, as evidenced by the excitement over Banjo and Kazooie coming to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, so hopefully we see them return some day soon.

Source: Resetera