Playtonic Games

Playtonic Games is an indie game company founded in 2014 by former members of Rare Ltd.. The founding team consisted of Steve Hurst, Steve Mayles, Gavin Price, Jens Restemeier, Mark Stevenson and Chris Sutherland, with Gavin Price assuming the role of studio head and later adding Grant Kirkhope to the team. The first project they worked on was codenamed "Project Ukelele", which they described as being a spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie. Launching a kickstarter campaign for the project, the team reached their stretch goal of one million US dollars within just 24 hours. However, due in part to the campaign's success, the team's attention often diverted away from the game's development and towards other aspects such as merchandise items, with some game development choices being forced due to campaign promises. The project was eventually unveiled as Yooka-Laylee, a 3D platformer released in 2017 to mixed reviews. The company followed up on Yooka-Laylee with Yooka-Laylee and The Impossible Lair, a 2.5D spinoff title that bears similarities to the Donkey Kong Country series but the team opted to not market it as a "spiritual successor." Yooka-Laylee and The Impossible Lair was released in 2019 as Playtonic Games second game, and held a more positive reception than its predecessor.