NEWS - Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Activision Commits to Revitalizing Bond Franchise
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick has said that the company is committed to revitalizing the James Bond brand - "one of the greatest videogame franchises of all time" - while revealing the publisher has two projects based on the license in development. The publisher secured the Bond licence in 2006 after Electronic Arts ended its deal with MGM Interactive for the rights to create titles based on the James Bond films. "Bond is one of the great videogame franchises of all time and that really was a result of Golden Eye," commented Kotick at a BMO Capital Markets conference. "I think the key to re-energizing the Bond franchise is going to be ultimately the highest possible game quality." For Kotick, EA’s Bond titles – which included GoldenEye: Rogue Agent and From Russia With Love – suffered because the publisher had too broad a portfolio, leaving the brand neglected. "It suffered a lot because it wasn’t a focal point of Electronic Arts’ efforts over the past five years and they have such a broad portfolio of franchises that this one didn’t get the attention it deserved," said Kotick. "We have our best development studios working on the product, we have a second team working on another Bond product and we’re putting great resources against it," he added.Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz
