GoldenEye 007 is one of the most iconic and beloved games ever, but it's never gotten a proper remaster. That's not for a lack of trying, though. Stephen Kick, the head of Nightdive Studios, said in an interview that the company tried to make it happen--but Nintendo apparently shut it down.
Nightdive is known for bring back old games for modern consoles, with some of the titles under its belt including Turok, Doom 64, and Quake II, among many others.
Kick told VGC that it was "a real heartbreak" for the GoldenEye remaster to fail to come together. Kick said Nightdive put "a lot of effort" into pitching the game and assembling a "dream team" to make it happen. He said the MGM/Eon side of the equation was on board, but things fell apart when it came to Nintendo.
After getting MGM/Eon to agree, "Then it was: 'OK, we're ready to go.' 'Well, did you guys get the rights from Nintendo?' 'Wait a minute, we thought you had that.' And then Nintendo was like, 'Yeah, no third party's ever going to touch any Nintendo stuff, ever,'" Kick said.
Nightdive's Larry Kuperman added that the company has a history of working with Nintendo, as Nightdive was the first company to bring an N64 game to Switch with Turok. "So that got their attention right away," Kuperman said. "But it didn't really lead to a partnership or anything," he added.
Kuperman went on to say that Nintendo has a "very successful business philosophy that's worked well for them," so he understands why Nintendo didn't want to let Nightdive make a remaster.
"It's very hard for [Nintendo] to make an exception. And I don't know whether they knew that it was going to--how should I put this politically correctly--that it was going to leave something to be desired in there. What they put out was kind of minimal," he said. "And I'm trying to be fair about it, but I don't think that they could say, 'Well, we're going to make an exception.'"
In 2023, GoldenEye 007 came to Nintendo Switch and Xbox. It's currently available for Xbox Game Pass. On Xbox, the game includes support for 4K resolution, with smoother frame rates. Years before this, a new version of GoldenEye 007 for Xbox 360 leaked online. It was reportedly canceled due to rights and licensing issues. The situation may be even more complicated now that Amazon MGM Studios owns the rights to James Bond, with original producing partners Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson getting bought out as part of a shocking Hollywood shakeup.
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Nightdive is known for bring back old games for modern consoles, with some of the titles under its belt including Turok, Doom 64, and Quake II, among many others.
Kick told VGC that it was "a real heartbreak" for the GoldenEye remaster to fail to come together. Kick said Nightdive put "a lot of effort" into pitching the game and assembling a "dream team" to make it happen. He said the MGM/Eon side of the equation was on board, but things fell apart when it came to Nintendo.
After getting MGM/Eon to agree, "Then it was: 'OK, we're ready to go.' 'Well, did you guys get the rights from Nintendo?' 'Wait a minute, we thought you had that.' And then Nintendo was like, 'Yeah, no third party's ever going to touch any Nintendo stuff, ever,'" Kick said.
Nightdive's Larry Kuperman added that the company has a history of working with Nintendo, as Nightdive was the first company to bring an N64 game to Switch with Turok. "So that got their attention right away," Kuperman said. "But it didn't really lead to a partnership or anything," he added.
Kuperman went on to say that Nintendo has a "very successful business philosophy that's worked well for them," so he understands why Nintendo didn't want to let Nightdive make a remaster.
"It's very hard for [Nintendo] to make an exception. And I don't know whether they knew that it was going to--how should I put this politically correctly--that it was going to leave something to be desired in there. What they put out was kind of minimal," he said. "And I'm trying to be fair about it, but I don't think that they could say, 'Well, we're going to make an exception.'"
In 2023, GoldenEye 007 came to Nintendo Switch and Xbox. It's currently available for Xbox Game Pass. On Xbox, the game includes support for 4K resolution, with smoother frame rates. Years before this, a new version of GoldenEye 007 for Xbox 360 leaked online. It was reportedly canceled due to rights and licensing issues. The situation may be even more complicated now that Amazon MGM Studios owns the rights to James Bond, with original producing partners Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson getting bought out as part of a shocking Hollywood shakeup.
Source