2008 project was canned due to rights issues
A working build of GoldenEye 007’s cancelled Xbox 360 remaster has leaked online and it’s fully playable on PC via unofficial emulators.
The 2008 project was originally planned to release digitally on Xbox 360’s Xbox Live Arcade platform, but it was ultimately cancelled due to rights issues, despite the game being virtually complete.
Now VGC has verified that a near-final ROM of the remaster is being actively circulated on file sharing sites. The ROM includes the full remastered single-player campaign and multiplayer.
The ROM leak follows the publication of a 2-hour video last weekend, and represents the first time the wider public has been able to play the remaster since its existence was leaked by a UK magazine in 2008.
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“It would’ve cost a lot of money to get it done and because of that the project probably wouldn’t have been financially viable.”
In 2015, Xbox boss Phil Spencer suggested that due to the same issues, there was little hope of the Goldeneye project ever being revived for modern platforms. Asked about the cancelled remaster by a fan, Spencer tweeted: “GoldenEye rights are so challenging, looked at this many times. Lot’s of different parties to work with, we’ve always given up.”
Although GoldenEye 007 was never released for Xbox 360, its spiritual successor Perfect Dark was eventually given the Xbox Live Arcade treatment and can be played on Xbox consoles to this day.