Xbox Boss Responds to GoldenEye 007 Xbox 360 Footage
"GoldenEye has always been a rights issue, not a 'getting code to run' issue."
Earlier this week, some footage of what was claimed to be an Xbox Live Arcade version of Rare's classic GoldenEye 007 emerged online. It looked wonderful and made us sad that it never came out.
Now, Xbox boss Phil Spencer has responded to it. Asked by someone on Twitter if the game was actually in development for Xbox 360 as was rumored, he didn't confirm either way. He did, however, say that getting GoldenEye on new platforms is a "rights issue."
"GoldenEye has always been a rights issue, not a 'getting code to run' issue," Spencer explained.
This may also explain why GoldenEye 007 was not featured in the 30-game Rare Replay package.
According to Unseen64, GoldenEye for Xbox Live Arcade was in development at Rare in 2007 and 2008. Microsoft, Activision (the James Bond rights-holders), and Nintendo apparently agreed to a publishing deal. However, Nintendo Japan is purported to have shut the project down for unknown reasons just months before its planned release.
Similar to the original N64 GoldenEye, developers at Rare reportedly had their faces scanned into the Xbox 360 version for all manner of side-characters like enemies and civilians.
Activision acquired the James Bond video game license in 2006. At the time, it was announced that the deal ran through 2014. A James Bond game from the makers of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood was released in 2015, though no new console or PC games have been announced.
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