EA Loses BOND License
 

I found this information on a Bond website:

Variety reports on Activision gain of James Bond videogame licence, news on EA

James Bond has switched sides in the videogame world.
In a major shift, MGM and Electronic Arts have ended their deal for the superspy, one of the most popular and profitable licenses in the vidgame bizbiz, four years before it was skedded to end - reports Variety.

Lion has signed a new deal with game publisher Activision that extends through 2014 and is worth around $50 million, according to insiders.

In other big videogame news prior to next week's E3 industry confabconfab, THQ has confirmed that it is developing a "Sopranos" game that will include the show's creative team and cast, while Warner Bros. and EA have delayed the "Superman Returns" game from the theatrical release date in June to the DVD release this fall -- a potentially costly move.

EA first published a Bond game in 1998 and extended its deal with MGM and EON Prods. just three years ago through 2010. At the time Bond games were some of the industry's most successful. EA has published three since then; 2003's "Everything or Nothing" and 2005's "From Russia With Love" did moderately well, while 2004's "Goldeneye: Rogue Agents" sold poorly.

Publisher was not able to make a game tie-in for the upcoming "Casino Royale" pic, however, costing MGM millions in license fees. Insiders indicated that decision, along with a shift in EA corporate strategy, led to the two canceling the deal.

"No game means no revenue, and, for the first year, the consumer products team was left high and dry," said one person close to the deal.

Game publisher has indicated a decision to limit its licensed games and focus on original intellectual property, though it has recently invested heavily in a few key Hollywood licenses such as "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Simpsons."

Insiders said Activision was the No. 2 bidder for Bond in 2003, making it a natural to take the license now.

"We looked at a very selective group of potential partners," noted MGM exec veepveep of consumer products Travis Rutherford.

First Bond game from Activision is expected to be a tie-in to the film after "Casino Royale." Publisher has the rights to make Bond games not connected to new films, however.

The 21 Bond videogames published since 1983 have sold some 30 million units overall.
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Well, maybe this is a good move for the Bond francise. 'The World Is Not Enough' (N64 Version) and 'Everything or Nothing' are great. 'Nightfire' is good. 'From Russia With Love' and 'Agent Under Fire' are OK. 'Tomorrow Never Dies' and 'Goldeneye: Rogue Agent' are both bad. Hit and Miss with EA. Hopefully Activision will have a fresh new take on the games.

xman25

Activision and Bond?
Oh wow, this game is going TU ROK!!! *sarcasm*

Unless they can pull off something Rare, it seems bad for the secret agent future.

The Bond games have been mediocre at best after Goldeneye. EA never could get it right, and I doubt Activision will either.

Indeed... These days I'm comparing any Bond game to Perfect Dark 64 or Halo, and if it can outdo any one of those then it'll prove itself worthy of purchase.

EA's Bond games just didn't have the feeling of Goldeneye, PD or even Halo.

Hmmm.. looks like EA did us all a favor and droped the Bond franchise before they did something really bad with it. Not to bash on EA or anything but truth be told their games aren't really all that great.

Hmm, after EA accuired Free Radical, I was actually kinda hoping that they would work their Time Splitters magic on the Bond. It couldn't be worse than Rogue Agent...

Shame nobody mentioned Everything or Nothing which is a rather splendid allround action-adventure with a good Bond story and nicely developed villains. It has elements of stealth, action, driving and exploring and sharp controls. Also the likenesses and voice talent all help to recreate that genuine Bond feeling, which IMO was executed in a better way than in the last two Bond movies (TWINE and DAD).

Quite so. I suspect the reason it, and its notional successor From Russia with Love hadn't been mentioned is because the griping has been assumed to make specific reference to the first-person games. To this day, I still don't understand how/why EA kept dropping the ball with those...

I gave up on Bond games a long time ago. I'd rather play a good game based on original IP.

I also enjoyed Everything or Nothing. It had a coop mode, which was fun.

Yes! EA is out! Anything is better than EA. Rogue Agent is the worst game I've ever played.

The last fun bond game I played was Goldeneye and Everything or Nothing.

All EA games seem to have this obvious sense of "You're only going where we ALLOW you to go", which is never present in other games of the same genre. I can't pinpoint WHAT it is, but I call it the EA Syndrome.

Needless to say, I tried out nightfire and rouge agents, and it just seemed like they took what could have been great and shit all over it.

News about one less franchise license for EA is always good news.

Nightfire's Multiplayer isn't so bad with a friend. It's bearable.

ahaha, you just reminded me. Me and a friend decided to dick around on the multiplayer and had jumppacks and rocket lauchers, so for like 10 rounds it was me and him jumping around this town level shooting rockets at eachother.

So, it was good for a distraction, but even then we got bored after about a half-hour or somehting.

Yeah. We messed around on that one snow level with the moving gondola's mostly. *looks up* Oh, level's called Skyrail.

Yay, finally. EA sucks.

Bout time, I couldn't really get into EA's bond games for some reason (esp. after playing Goldeneye on the N64 and Halo/Perfect Dark).

EA just sucks ass period. They're never willing to try anything risky or new in their games -- all their games are always designed to "cater to the masses."

EA has made a total mockery of the Bond game franchise since it took over. Nightfire was the only game I could remotely get into. It'll be interesting to see how Activision fairs. If I had to give an opinion on that right now, I'd say not much better than EA. We'll see...

Actually Free Radical is still indepent so there's still a chance that they could work on a Bond game if Activision wanted.

Anybody have an opinion on From Russia With Love, I saw it in the bargain bin and thought about picking it up..

It's there for a reason. It's too short and too simple. If you take your time you'll have it beat in about 5 hours. Maybe even less than that.

I dont see why you guys praising EA's loss.

Acitivision ain't much better, you know.

I could care less about Activision. They could go and make a James Bond's Pro Skater for all I care. I'm just glad EA finally gave up.