Yooka-Laylee, the spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie, will not be coming to the Wii U.
Due to “unforseen circumstances,” the upcoming platformer from Playtonics Games will not be appearing on the Nintendo console, though an appearance on the Switch has not been ruled out according to the developer’s website.
The official reasoning is that the company ran into a technical issue which made a Wii U version of the game impossible. It seems odd to announce this a mere month before Nintendo fully unveils the Wii U’s successor, but Playtonic nevertheless explained their reasoning.
The Playtonic team wanted to explore every possible avenue before making the very difficult decision to transfer development from the Wii U. Our developers worked tirelessly over many months in attempt to solve our technical issues, but unfortunately it’s not been possible to bring Yooka-Laylee to Wii U as originally planned.
This creates a predicament for Wii U owners who backed the game on Kickstarter. Playtonic does have a plan in place, though, to cover those affected.
How do I transfer my Wii U pledge to another platform?
We will message all backers with information on how they will be able to change their platform pledge in January.
I chose Wii U as my platform. Can I get a refund?
All affected Wii U backers can choose another platform to receive a digital copy of Yooka-Laylee for, at no extra cost to their existing pledge (already at more than 50% discount to retail). Wii U backers can also choose to wait for updates on the Nintendo Switch early next year.
However, if you would like to discuss a refund please contact us via the Backer messaging system for Kickstarter.
(or if you are without a Kickstarter account then via Kickstarter@Playtonicgames.com)
Yooka-Laylee will release April 11th, 2017 for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC/Mac/Linux at a price of $39.99. Don’t expect a Nintendo Switch announcement until the company’s Switch reveal event at the earliest, which takes place from Tokyo next month.
