 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | 2014 |
| Founders |
|
| Headquarters | , England |
Key people | Gavin Price (studio head) |
| Owner | Tencent (minority stake) |
| Divisions | Playtonic Friends |
| Website | playtonicgames.com |
Playtonic Games Limited is a British video game developer founded in 2014. It consists in large part of former members of Rare.
Playtonic Games was founded in late 2014 by Steve Hurst, Steve Mayles, Gavin Price, Jens Restemeier, Mark Stevenson, and Chris Sutherland, all of whom previously worked at Rare. [1] [2] Of the founders, Price assumed the role of studio head. [2] They were joined by Grant Kirkhope and Steven Hurst. The first game the company worked on was codenamed "Project Ukulele", which was described as a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie . [2] The team launched a Kickstarter campaign for the project, and it managed to reach the stretch goal of US$1 million within 24 hours. [3] In part due to the campaign's success, the team's attention was often diverted to other aspects such as making merchandise items instead of focusing on game's development, and some choices related to game development were forced as well due to them being promised in the campaign. [4]
Project Ukulele was unveiled as the 3D platformer Yooka-Laylee , which was released in 2017 to mixed critical reviews. [5] Playtonic followed up on Yooka-Laylee with Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair , their second game, a 2.5D spinoff. While bearing similarities with the Donkey Kong Country series, the team opted not to use the moniker "spiritual successor" to market the game, unlike with Yooka-Laylee. [6] Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair was released in 2019 to a more positive reception than Yooka-Laylee.
Playtonic Games announced the rebranding of their company name to "Playtonic" and the launch of a publishing division, Playtonic Friends, in February 2021, with three titles under development from partner studios Awe Interactive, Fabraz, and Okidokico. [7] On 26 March 2021, Playtonic Friends' revealed their first game, Demon Turf , developed by Fabraz. [8] On 29 April 2021, Playtonic Friends's announced their next game, BPM: Bullets Per Minute , would be released in 2021 for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. [9] On 19 May 2021, Playtonic announced A Little Golf Journey, to be released on PCs and Nintendo Switch and developed by Okidokico. [10]
Tencent acquired a minority stake in Playtonic in November 2021. [11]
| Year | Game | Platform(s) | Publisher |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Yooka-Laylee | Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One | Team17 |
| 2019 | Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One | |
| TBA | Yooka-Replayee | Windows | Playtonic Friends |
| Year | Game | Platform(s) | Developer |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Demon Turf | Nintendo Switch, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 | Fabraz |
| BPM: Bullets Per Minute | PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One | Awe Interactive | |
| A Little Golf Journey | Nintendo Switch, Windows | Okidokico | |
| 2022 | Lil Gator Game | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S | Megawobble |
| Blossom Tales 2: The Minotaur Prince | Nintendo Switch, Windows, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S | Castle Pixel | |
| Demon Turf: Neon Splash | Nintendo Switch, Windows | Fabraz | |
| TBA | Elsie | Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows | Knight Shift Games |
| Victory Heat Rally | Nintendo Switch, Windows | Skydevilpalm | |
| Yooka-Replayee | Windows | Playtonic Games |
Rare Limited is a British video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Twycross, Leicestershire. Rare's games span the platform, first-person shooter, action-adventure, fighting, and racing genres. Its most popular games include the Battletoads, Donkey Kong, and Banjo-Kazooie series, as well as games like GoldenEye 007 (1997), Perfect Dark (2000), Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001), Viva Piñata (2006), and Sea of Thieves (2018).
Banjo-Kazooie is a 1998 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. Controlling the player characters, the bear Banjo and the bird Kazooie, the player attempts to save Banjo's kidnapped sister Tooty from the witch Gruntilda. The player explores nine nonlinear worlds to gather items and progress. Using Banjo and Kazooie's traversal and combat abilities, they complete challenges such as solving puzzles, jumping over obstacles, and defeating bosses.
David Wise is a British video game music composer and musician. He was a composer at Rare from 1985 to 2009, and was the company's sole musician up until 1994. He has gained a following for his work on various games, particularly Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country series. Wise is known for his atmospheric style of music, mixing natural environmental sounds with prominent melodic and percussive accompaniment.
Wil Overton is a British artist, specialising in manga styles.
Grant Kirkhope is a Scottish composer and voice actor for video games and film. Some of his notable works include GoldenEye 007, Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong 64, and Perfect Dark, among many others. He has won an Ivor Novello Award for Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and a World Soundtrack Award for The King's Daughter as well as being nominated for various BAFTA, ASCAP, and IFMCA awards.
A spiritual successor is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but does not explicitly continue the product line or media franchise of its predecessor, and is thus only a successor "in spirit". Spiritual successors often have similar themes and styles to their preceding material, but are generally a distinct intellectual property.
The "DK Rap" is the introduction theme to the 1999 Nintendo 64 video game Donkey Kong 64. Originally conceived by Rare designer George Andreas and composed by Grant Kirkhope, Andreas co-wrote and performed the lyrics, with Rare staffers joining in the chorus. Its lyrics describe the five playable characters in the game, with Kirkhope's goal to juxtapose the previous iteration of Donkey Kong from Donkey Kong Country against the new one.
Banjo-Kazooie is a platform game series developed by Rare. The games feature a male bear named Banjo and his friend, a large female red bird named Kazooie, both of whom are controlled by the player. Banjo originally made his debut as a playable character in 1997 as part of the cast of Diddy Kong Racing. Throughout the various games, they are tasked with thwarting the various evil schemes of a witch named Gruntilda. The first game, Banjo-Kazooie, was released in 1998 to critical acclaim and was followed by three sequels and a spin-off racing game.
Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts is a 2008 platform game developed by Rare and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. Set eight years after Banjo-Tooie (2000), Nuts & Bolts follows the bear-and-bird duo Banjo and Kazooie as they compete with the witch Gruntilda for ownership of their home. Although Nuts & Bolts retains the structure of previous Banjo-Kazooie games—collecting jigsaw puzzle pieces to progress—it shifts the focus from exploration to vehicle construction. The player designs vehicles, including automobiles, boats, and aeroplanes, and uses them to complete challenges across various worlds. In multiplayer modes, players can compete or share their vehicles over Xbox Live.
Gregg Mayles is a British video game designer currently working for video game company Rare as creative director. He is one of the longest-serving members of the company, having worked there since 1989.
Steve Burke is a British video game composer, sound designer and voice actor. He is mostly known for his work at the British video game developer Rare.
Idol Minds, LLC is an American video game developer based in Westminster, Colorado. The studio was founded in April 1997 by Mark Lyons and Scott Atkins and developed games exclusively for PlayStation consoles until 2012. Subsequently, it shifted to mobile games among other things before rebranding as "Deck Nine" in May 2017 to develop narrative-driven games. Lyons serves as president and chief technology officer of the company.
Stoic LLC is a video game developer based in Austin, Texas. Founded by three ex-BioWare staff in early 2012, Stoic is most known for developing the tactical role-playing game The Banner Saga (2014) and its sequels, The Banner Saga 2 (2016) and The Banner Saga 3 (2018).
Yooka-Laylee is a 2017 platform game developed by Playtonic Games and published by Team17. It was released for Windows, macOS, Linux, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in April 2017, Nintendo Switch in December 2017 and Amazon Luna in October 2020. Developed by a group of former key personnel from Rare, Yooka-Laylee is a spiritual successor to the Banjo-Kazooie series. After years of planning to develop a new game, Playtonic Games initiated a Kickstarter campaign that attracted significant media coverage and raised a record-breaking sum of over £2 million. The game follows chameleon Yooka and bat Laylee on their quest to retrieve a magical book from an evil corporation.
Snapshot Games is a Bulgarian video game developer headquartered in Sofia. Snapshot Games was founded in 2013 by Julian Gollop and David Kaye. Gollop is recognized for creating the X-COM video game franchise in the 1990s with X-COM: UFO Defense and X-COM: Apocalypse. Gollop also is the CEO of Snapshot Games. In addition to Gollop, the company includes about eight developers who are industry veterans with years of previous experience working for Ubisoft Sofia, Crytek Black Sea, and other Bulgaria studios.
Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair is a 2019 platform game developed by Playtonic Games and published by Team17. As a spin-off to Yooka-Laylee (2017), the game was released digitally for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on October 8, 2019, followed by a version for Amazon Luna on October 20, 2020.
Banjo & Kazooie are the protagonists of the video game series Banjo-Kazooie, created by the British developer Rare. They were introduced in the original Banjo-Kazooie (1998). Banjo is a honeybear who is accompanied by Kazooie, a bird who is often seen seeking shelter in Banjo's backpack and emerging to perform various moves and attacks. The pair's numerous adventures usually pit them against the evil witch Gruntilda.
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Chris Sutherland is an English video game programmer and voice actor. He is best known for programming several titles while at Rare, including Battletoads Arcade, Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest, and Banjo Kazooie, before co-founding Playtonic Games with several other Rare employees. During this time, he also voiced several characters for the company, including Banjo and Kazooie, Diddy Kong and the announcer of the Killer Instinct series.