No Future for Bond Video Games?

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John P. Drake
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No Future for Bond Video Games?

Post by John P. Drake »

It has been three years since the release of 007 Legends that caused a great studio like Eurocom to defunct, and the low sales Activision obtained from licensed games have caused its own studios to be closed down and employees cut to half, one of them being Bizzare Creations that did Blood Stone back in 2010. Activision abandoned the Bond license in February 2013, and no word has been heard from the topic that concerns the future of the James Bond video games. Rather sad, if you ask me.

Nonetheless, there is an application developed by Glu Mobile coming out on smartphones and tablets later this year, called World of Espionage, but I'll gather it will be low grade strategy game or an arcade game, or maybe even a quiz game centered around OO7, hardly I'll call it a game at all. But, as far as I know, I think the Bond games are no more.

What are your thoughts on this?
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The Saint 007
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Re: No Future for Bond Video Games?

Post by The Saint 007 »

Activision really messed up horribly with the Bond games, and I still question as to why they even bothered to outbid EA for the licence in the first place. There will most likely only be some smaller mobile Bond games for the time until a company who sees potential in developing proper console Bond games gets the licence. Right now, there doesn't seem to be a company who is confident/willing to make bigger budget Bond games.

In the meantime, fans will simply have to continue playing the older Bond games, or, if they are talented enough, create their own Bond games. The Source games are also another good alternative.
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Re: No Future for Bond Video Games?

Post by Daltonite Toothpaste »

With such a rich history to mine from, it boggles the mind how Activision could drive video game Bond, right the **** into the ground. I still have not played 007 Legends. That is how unappealing a game that looked to me. I bought GE:RA on it's release date, yet 007 Legends turns 3 this year, and I have gone nowhere near a copy.

Blood Stone had some good driving sections, but everything in the 3rd person was bland. No crouch? :lol:
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John P. Drake
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Re: No Future for Bond Video Games?

Post by John P. Drake »

I agree with you, chaps. The thing is, 007 Legends itself felt like an expansion pack to 2011's Reloaded, and nothing different than the latter. Activision mistreated the license like hell, they Bobby Kotick was able to criticize EA's Rogue Agent, an actual creativity regardless of being poor was inserted into the 2004 title. Sad to see Bruce Feirstein's talent also wasted, but then again, his script was reworked by Robin Matthews. The only thing I appreciate in the game was the return of the gadgets, but then again, the bland one corridor pace, and the constant heavy gravity underneath your footsteps prevented you from feeling comfortable with the gameplay. A Call of Duty: Modern Warfare clone. Chances are big we might not see a Bond game for a long time... if at all.
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Re: No Future for Bond Video Games?

Post by Kiwichris »

I guess I'm one of the few who didn't think 007 Legends was too shabby, though no N64 GoldenEye by any stretch. It's strange to see no one picking up the licence. EA used to make profits on their games, but even they made a dud or two *cough*Rouge Agent*cough*.
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John P. Drake
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Re: No Future for Bond Video Games?

Post by John P. Drake »

Kiwichris wrote:I guess I'm one of the few who didn't think 007 Legends was too shabby, though no N64 GoldenEye by any stretch. It's strange to see no one picking up the licence. EA used to make profits on their games, but even they made a dud or two *cough*Rouge Agent*cough*.
I think it's understandable why no one wants licensed IP's, them being developers and publishers. Activision's decline in sales regarding to that of many licensed games was the fence they jumped. Several Movie Tie-ins from other companies also were dropped from their privileges, which is why many companies backed away from licensed IP's back in 2013, including Activision. Electronic Arts still delivers Star Wars games, though. However, it's really going to be a long time till we see a Grade A James Bond video game on consoles and PC. Now, they're heading for the smartphone territories.
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