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As with many beloved characters and series, it can be difficult to keep the rights to a fan-favourite franchise. With companies constantly purchasing each other, it's difficult to keep track of who owns what and when exclusivity licenses may expire. This is what happened back in the era of the Xbox 360, when developers completed a remaster of N64 classic GoldenEye 007 before it was cancelled due to licensing difficulties.
In 2021, mysteriously the build resurfaced and leaked online making fans ever more curious. In an interview with VGC co-director Mark Edmonds speculated that it was Microsoft itself who did it.
“The thing that I find strangest is, why now? Why leak it after all this time? Someone must have had this for all those years. It just seems strange to me. - When I first heard about it, it almost made me think, are Microsoft leaking it on purpose for some reason? I don’t think that would make sense, but it does make you wonder.”
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Last month, rumours surrounding the return of the remaster began to swell. Firstly, Nintendo requested for it to be reclassified in Germany where it was initially banned. Then eagle-eyed fans spotted a whole slew of Xbox achievements for the game popping up. CEO of Microsoft Gaming Phil Spencer even announced that he was interested in reviving some old IPs.
Now GiantBomb's Jeff Grubb has revealed a new piece to the puzzle on his show GrubbSnax. In his latest show he claims that Microsoft, rather than Nintendo, will announce the remaster coming in just a "couple of weeks." While there is no concrete evidence to back up this claim, Grubb is well known in the industry to have insider knowledge and has been correct on a wide variety of leaks before.
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GoldenEye 007 can currently only (properly) be played as the original 1997 release on the N64, so if the remaster does happen, it would see a lot of people able to play for the first time.
Topics: James Bond, Xbox, Microsoft