Diamonds may be forever, but licensing deals aren’t.
Activision-published James Bond titles, including Quantum of Solace, 007 Legends and the unfortunately titled Blood Stone, seem to have disappeared from Steam and Activision’s own web-store. Activision bought the Bond license (to kill) from EA in 2006 and was supposed to hold onto it until at least 2014. The titles’ sudden disappearance has some thinking things may have soured between the publisher and current rights holders, Sony and MGM.
Eurocom, developer of the last three Bond games, entered administration last December. The British studio produced its first Bond game, James Bond JR (NES), back in 1991.
For many gamers, the only appealing thing about newer Bond titles is the off chance that they might recapture the lightning-in-a-bottle success of the brilliant N64 hit, GoldenEye. There’s been a few close calls; 2002’s Nightfire is held in high regard and 2004’s Everything or Nothing has its fans, but none have matched the critical success of Rare’s original effort. More recent titles were largely met with lukewarm reviews, with 007 Legends being noted mainly for its shockingly lazy box art.
For those of you who bought any of the pulled games on Steam, perhaps in the recent round of wallet-sapping Christmas sales, don’t worry. The games won’t be removed from your personal libraries, and you can still re-download them should you need to.
Source: Neogamr
