GoldenEye 007 is widely known as one of the greatest video games of all-time. When it was released on Nintendo 64 back in 1997, the Rare developed game had a monumental impact on the video game industry. In 2010, Activision released a remake of the game for Nintendo Wii (and later PS3 and Xbox 360), which built on the foundations of the original, while making some notable changes. Remaking a beloved game can be quite challenging, when it comes to pleasing both the fans and the license holders. During a recent episode of the Grit podcast, former Activision CEO Bobby Kotick revealed that James Bond co-owner Barbara Broccoli did not want guns in the game!
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“We made a sequel, and it was a challenging thing to make because Barbara Broccoli did not really want anything that was violence. And she didn’t really want guns in the game,” said Kotick. “She and her brother, they are great custodians for the IP and I understood where she was coming from. She’s like, ‘If kids are going to play this, I don’t want guns. Can you use something other than guns?’ And I was like ‘no’ because the expectation is going to be the original GoldenEye – that’s what we have to do. We struggled with being able to actually get something done that would be great, but I thought that making a GoldenEye sequel was a great idea.”
It’s hard to fathom a James Bond game without guns, especially one based on a popular existing shooter. Clearly, Broccoli ended up coming around, and the GoldenEye remake was allowed to have guns, just as the original did. While the remake was not as well-received as the original GoldenEye 007, it did receive praise from players and critics alike. Ironically enough, the remake was released at a time when the rights issues to the original GoldenEye 007 prevented the game from being re-released. Fast forward 15 years later, and the N64 version of GoldenEye 007 can be played on both Nintendo Switch Online and Xbox Game Pass, while the Wii version is currently unavailable.
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The 2010 version of GoldenEye 007 took an interesting approach to the source material. Rather than revisiting the world from the Pierce Brosnan film, the game reimagined it through the lens of the then-current Daniel Craig era films. While many of the plot beats remained the same as they were in the N64 game and movie, a lot of them were updated. Some characters had to be removed, and some gadgets were reimagined with modern sensibilities. After all these years, the game remains one of the most interesting James Bond concepts, even if it didn’t quite live up to the game that inspired it!
Did you play the 2010 remake of GoldenEye 007? Do you think it would have been possible to make a James Bond game without guns? Share your thoughts with me directly on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!
[H/T: Nintendo Everything]
