This should be no surprise to anyone, but it’s been revealed that Nintendo is responsible for the cancellation of the GoldenEye 007 remake for the Xbox 360. GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 is one of the most beloved on the system, and there was going to be a remake of it on the Xbox 360 by Rare, the developer of the original game. Rare was acquired by Microsoft in what was a very bad breakup with Nintendo. Their remake of GoldenEye 007 for the Xbox 360, but Nintendo blocked it from being released, as they were the publisher of the original game. Ross Bury, an artist on the game, spoke to Arstechnica with this revelation.
“When it was put to Nintendo, everyone there approved it. Except they didn’t check with the one guy who mattered. I believe I was told his response went along the lines of, ‘There is no way a Nintendo game is coming out on a Microsoft console.’”
It’s very interesting that it was almost universally approved within Nintendo, but in the end, it was blocked by one person. This is unfortunate, as GoldenEye 007 was such an excellent game. I have so many childhood memories of playing it with my friends, and a remake would have been a great way to re-experience the game. The game was finished, and it wasn’t then-Nintendo President Hiroshi Yamauchi who blocked it; their identity is unknown.
We’ll never know whether Rare’s remake lived up to the legacy of the original or not, as even to this day it will not be released.