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Xbox chief Phil Spencer has set the record straight on revivals of Rare’s classic franchises, such as Banjo-Kazooie and Conker, saying that it’s up to the developer.
In a recent interview with Kotaku, Spencer revealed that he lets the various developers under the Xbox Game Studios umbrella choose the projects they work on, including Banjo-Kazooie and Conker developer Rare. “I leave it up to the studios in terms of the things that they want to go work on,” he said.
“I have a lot of respect for Rare and the work that they do,” Spencer added, while noting that in recent years Rare has focused mainly on creating new IPs. “They do like building new things, and they’ve seen success with Sea Of Thieves. I think they’re really excited about Everwild. […] And so I think it’s just always a balance.”
Rare’s last Banjo-Kazooie release was 2008’s Nuts & Bolts for the Xbox 360. Meanwhile, the last Conker title was 2005’s Conker: Live & Reloaded, which was a remake of 2001’s Conker’s Bad Fur Day for the original Xbox. Both Nuts & Bolts and Conker’s Bad Fur Day were later included in 2015’s Rare Replay, a compilation of 30 classic Rare games.
Elsewhere in the interview, Spencer spoke about what Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda Softworks means for the upcoming The Elder Scrolls VI’s release on non-Xbox systems. While the Xbox chief did not directly reveal if the game would be available on external consoles, he did note that Microsoft would not have to ship the game on non-Microsoft systems for the purchase deal to be beneficial to the company.
Spencer also said that he expects the Xbox Series S to sell more units than the Xbox Series X by the end of the upcoming console generation. “I think, over the generation, our expectation would be that price really matters and that you would see the Series S sell more,” he said.
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