https://kotaku.com/xbox-boss-phil-spencer-says-banjo-in-smash-was-an-easy-1835418742
This kind of company crossover between two platform holders might seem extraordinary, but Xbox boss Phil Spencer said that it was actually a pretty easy deal.
“The ‘how’ is not actually that interesting,” Spencer told me when I asked him how adding Banjo-Kazooie to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate came about.
“Obviously we’re one of the biggest third-party publishers on Switch, so we have great relationships with their third-party team. And you’ve seen the ambition they’ve had with every character that’s ever been in Smash and even more. So it was just kind of part of the partnership relationship we have with them.”
“There wasn’t anything kind of CEO-to-CEO that had to happen,” he said. “People have asked me on social [media]—I’m sure you’ve seen that—over many years: ‘Would I welcome having Banjo in Smash?’ and I’ve always been open to that.”