Lee Schuneman on Piñata and Banjo’s future
He reiterates Rare's commitment with Xbox Live DLC
Possibly to coincide with the release of Jetpac Refuelled on Xbox Live, GamesIndustry.biz have published an exclusive interview with Rare’s Lee Schuneman, newly appointed Head of Production and one of Rare’s more influential veterans. Schuneman, currently in his 11th year with the British developer, touched on several topics, including the lukewarm commercial response to Viva Piñata, the touchy issue of Rare’s downloadable content on Xbox Live, and the forthcoming Banjo Kazooie 3.
Embracing Rare’s newfound frankness with the industry’s media, Schuneman spoke candidly on the disappointing sales of Viva Piñata. Despite receiving worldwide critical acclaim (the game currently sports a healthy 85% approval rating on Game Rankings), Piñata sold poorly on the Xbox 360. It failed to reach the Top 40 games charts in America, and its European reception was a similar affair: “We’d obviously like more sales, but we were happy with the game and critically it’s gone down very well. [...] We’re pleased with the overall support that it has gotten – the TV show, the game – and there’s more to come within that franchise. If the sales were there to match that we’d be over the moon, but they’re not.”
Schuneman admitted that Rare remained unsure on the direction for the Piñata franchise, saying that it was very much a ‘wait and see’ scenario. With the Viva Piñata animated series performing well on American television, and the impending release of the series in Europe, hope remained for the franchise: “It’s a two or three year push, and if after that it’s a terrible failure then we’ll say fair enough. It’s way too early to say more than that at the moment.”
Another Rare franchise that will surely not suffer the same fate is Banjo Kazooie 3, the highly anticipated sequel to the N64’s Banjo-Tooie. And, it seems, the legions of Banjo fans worldwide aren’t the only ones getting excited for the game: “The team that are doing it are the guys that did the original Banjo-Kazooie, so they’re probably more passionate about it than the kids that have bought the game,” he explained.
Schuneman then revealed that Gregg Mayles, the original Banjo-Kazooie team director, has again taken directorial honours, and has brought much of the original team with him. He went on to explain that the team was “passionate to maintain the Banjo vibe and what it was all about,” but then revealed that fans of the series may be in for a surprise: “There are elements that are going to be very different; I don’t think people are going to expect it.”
Typically, Schuneman was reluctant to reveal any details of a possible launch window, simply reiterating that there was still a long time until some detailed information would surface: “We’ve got a lot of work to do on getting the new ideas that the team have come up with to be right and playable and fun. And the team is making good progress with that. There’s other stuff that we’re doing too and when we’re ready to talk about it, we’ll talk.”
Lastly, and in response to the indifferent reaction that Rare’s Xbox Live downloadable content has received, Schuneman reiterated Rare’s commitment to the download service: “We believe in it… We’ll do DLC for the right game. We did a load of it with Kameo and we liked doing it; it was interesting from a development point of view. So long as it’s interesting and adds something new to the game, then we’re happy to do it. [...] But it’s got to be right. It’s got to be the right thing for people that buy it, because we’re not into ripping anybody off.”
Mmm. Viva Piñata hats, anyone? Didn’t think so.
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