Earlier this week, we reported that the three PC games that Activision had released based on the James Bond franchise had been removed from the publisher"s download store and Steam. That included the most recent game, 007 Legends, which was released for the PC version just a couple of months ago.
Today, we can confirm, via unnamed but reliable sources, that Activision"s license to publish video and PC games based on the James Bond series has indeed expired, which is why the PC games were removed from those download stores. Our sources had no information on if a new game publisher has been brought in to tell future virtual adventures of 007.
Activision first announced it had acquired the rights to the James Bond game license in May 2006, after a long run at Electronic Arts. The Activision license was supposed to last until 2014. The first 007 game from Activision was Quantum of Solace, a first person shooter released in 2008. The publisher released a string of James Bond games afterwards, including Blood Stone, a third person action game based on an original story, in 2010. The Wii also got 007 Goldeneye, a updated remake of the classic Nintendo 64 shooter, in 2010. It was later ported to the Xbox 360 and PS3 and released as 007 Goldeneye Reloaded in 2011.
In 2012, Activision released 007 Legends, a first person shooter that told a story which mixed elements of several older Bond movies. It also provided a free downloadable episode based on the current 007 film Skyfall. The game was developed by Eurocom but received mostly poor reviews. A month or so after 007 Legends" release, Eurocom announced it was shutting its doors.
We have been attempting to contact Activision for a comment on this story and will update this post when we receive an official statement.