The Xbox 360 GoldenEye that never was now is … kind of. The remake of the 007 classic from the Nintendo 64 never got a release on Microsoft’s second gaming console, but a ROM of the game hit the internet after years of clips and teases that showed the classic game with some refurbished graphics and gameplay.
As The Verge reported earlier in the week, the Xbox Goldeneye game, though unfinished, leaked online. And now it’s making the rounds on filesharing services. The game even had an option to switch from N64-style graphics to the, at the time, next-gen look.
As Polygon explained, the game was never released because of copyright issues.
Grant Kirkhope, composer on the original GoldenEye, told VideoGamesChronicle that the game was never released to the public because of a complicated knot of copyright and legal issues. “The main reason it didn’t happen was because there were too many stakeholders,” said Kirkhope. “Microsoft, Nintendo and [Bond rights-holder] EON could never agree on terms, and that’s before you even start to consider getting all the original movie actors to agree to have their likenesses used again.”
This is why you have to find it on filesharing services in 2021. If that’s too much effort, you can always just play Perfect Dark, a game that borrowed heavily from GoldenEye and saw a release on Xbox. But if you’re looking to get the GoldenEye experience with slightly improved graphics, it’s out there waiting for you.