Team17

Playtonic Games

Press release
Wakefield, UK – 30th July 2015 Games industry veteran and independent games label Team17 has today announced its partnership with indie developer Playtonic Games to help publish Yooka-Laylee, an all-new 3D platformer from the creative talent behind Banjo-Kazooie.

The partnership will allow Playtonic to build on its hugely successful Kickstarter campaign – the biggest ever for a UK game studio – with additional resources designed to benefit development and add value to both existing Kickstarter backers and new fans.

Gavin Price, Creative Lead at Playtonic commented, “From the very start we said that we’d welcome only a partner that could genuinely improve the creation of our game, while respecting the independence and creative autonomy of our development team. Team17’s 25-year industry-leading expertise will significantly benefit Yooka-Laylee in a myriad of ways, not least in expanded localisation, improved QA testing, certification and access to vastly better resources for our team. Working alongside such a strong partner will allow the Playtonic team to focus 100% of our efforts on building the best possible version of Yooka-Laylee for backers and new fans alike.”

Debbie Bestwick, Team17’s Managing Director added, “We have deep respect for the team at Playtonic. They have a very rich heritage and have worked on titles close to the heart of a lot of our team here. We’ve been following their Kickstarter campaign with interest and are delighted to welcome them onto our label and into the Team17 family. I can’t wait to start working together on this great game and hope this is the start of a long term partnership between Team17 and Playtonic.”

Yooka-Laylee stars the charismatic new heroes Yooka and Laylee and using an arsenal of special moves like Yooka’s tongue grapple and Laylee’s sonar blast, players will explore – and expand – gorgeous 3D worlds filled with collectibles and secrets to discover.

The highly-anticipated project will feature environments and characters crafted by the artists behind the genre’s most beloved classics, plus a dream soundtrack created in collaboration with legendary composers David Wise (Donkey Kong Country series), Steve Burke (Kameo: Elements of Power) and Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie series).

Yooka-Laylee is planned for an October 2016 release on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U, PC, Linux and Mac platforms.

To keep up to date with all the information on Yooka-Laylee please visit www.playtonicgames.com, like on Facebook and follow on Twitter.

About Team17 Digital Ltd
Founded in 1990, Team17 Digital Limited is a leading independent developer and publishing label headquartered in West Yorkshire (UK). Team17 publishes games for PC, console, mobile and handheld devices and other digital platforms. Visit www.team17.com for more info.

About the Playtonic Team
Founded in 2014, Playtonic Games is an independent developer based in Derby, UK, comprised of former veterans of Rare Ltd. Between them, the Playtonic team has over 100 years of combined experience working on blockbuster franchises such as Banjo-Kazooie, Donkey Kong Country and Kinect Sports.

Robin “V-Act” Ek
The Gaming Ground
Twitter: @TheGamingGround

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Tags: Gavin Price, Kickstarter, Playtonic Games, Team17, Yooka-Laylee