10 Video Game Franchises Ruined By Studio Takeovers

Banjo-Kazooie is practically the poster child for an endlessly promising video game franchise that got a lot of flack because of studio takeovers.

After Rare - the studio that produced the series - found themselves unable to get the same funding they once had from Nintendo, they sought other means of sustaining themselves. This would come in the form of selling the company to Microsoft, which would prove to be a decidedly mixed blessing.

As several former employees have expressed, they felt as though they were an afterthought, with little money or attention going their way - suggesting that Microsoft had bought them more because they could than because they had any ideas for what to do with them.

Similarly, when Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts came out after these changes, many blamed the game's flaws - not to mention its dramatic new direction - on the real-world developments involving Rare and Microsoft. And, given the idea appears to have been to change things up to ensure the "Microsoft version" felt different, you can't totally argue with it.