Yooka-Laylee developer Playtonic Games was already filled with former Rare employees, but you can add another two to the list. The indie studio announced today that Andy Wilson and Gary Richards have joined the team. The duo brings years of experience dating back to the NES and N64, and Andy Wilson will be joining the team as a producer, while Gary Richards will join the design team.
“Having spent over two decades working with most of the guys at Rare, I already know what a talented and awesome team I have joined,” remarked Richards. “I can sense great things ahead.” Gary originally joined Rare as a game tester, and eventually became the lead designer on all of Rare’s portable titles. That means you can thank him for games like It’s Mr. Pants, Banjo Pilot and Viva Piñata: Pocket Paradise.
The other new employee was equally as enthusiastic. “A couple of years ago, I thought it was time to grow up and jumped into the world of commercial software,” said Wilson. “Then Playtonic came knocking and that itch to get back into game development became too hard to resist. It’s great to be back with a small team in control of their own destiny.” Andy was the lead tester on Banjo-Kazooie, and eventually began a career in production where he worked on several of Rare’s best games like Conker’s Bad Fur Day and Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts.
Yooka-Laylee, the debut platformer from Playtonic Games, is currently set to release in March 2017 for PlayStation 4.
