

The sequel was built atop the original and the developers re-used many of the tools from the original game's development. Mayles left the team to work on Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts and Justin Cook became the team's lead designer. The team incorporated player feedback and worked towards a 'more definitive version' of the original. Rare's Gregg Mayles said that the game sold well and steadily on par with their expectations and Xbox's Phil Spencer added that the game was considered a success inside the company. The developers had cut partial ideas from the release in order to meet their deadlines. As Rare released the original Viva Piñata for the Xbox 360 in 2006, its development team saw it as incomplete.
