Xbox achievements for the Goldeneye 007 remaster have just appeared on the Microsoft Store, implying that an Xbox release is imminent. Previously, Rare worked on an Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) remake for several months back in in 2008.
Nintendo, MGM, and Microsoft, which purchased Rare in 2002, were unable to reach a license agreement, and the remaster, which was supposedly only two months away from completion, was thus cancelled.
According to Rare’s Ross Bury, Mark Edmonds, and Chris Tilston, the firm began adapting the game for XBLA in late 2006, long after the Stamper brothers had departed the business and after Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo had been completed.
It’s likely that a license agreement was finally reached between all the parties involved, making the Xbox port a possibility. Going by the appearance of the game’s achievements on the Xbox store, the Goldeneye 007 remaster is expected to be announced at the forthcoming Xbox and Bethesda Game Showcase on June 12, 2022.
It remains to be seen whether the remaster will remain 100% faithful or if changes to the gameplay will be made. Additionally, it’s also unclear at this point if there will be any content cut from the original that presented a hurdle for prior licensing issues.
Because Microsoft thought that GoldenEye 007 would be a good fit for XBLA, Rare began work on the remaster before obtaining Nintendo’s approval, assuming that it wouldn’t be an issue. Rare had finished the conversion and fixed the majority of the bugs in the final product, and was on the verge of releasing a “gold” version when they learned that Nintendo had not approved of it, forcing the studio to halt development until rights negotiations could be discussed, which ultimately fell through.
A full gameplay of an XBLA prototype was streamed on YouTube in January 2021, showcasing the enhanced visuals operating at 60 frames per second. A near-final playable ROM image of the game was leaked online later from an unknown source.
