After snatching the James Bond license out of EA's metallic hands in 2006, Activision has quietly been endeavoring to revitalize the franchise which had recently grown about as tiresome as the films it was based on. Heck, when you get to the point where an invisible car escapes from an ice palace being melted by a space laser, the point of no return is but a speck in the rear-view mirror. Will Activision find the gaming equivalent of Casino Royale?Speaking at a BMO Capital Markets conference (as covered by GamesIndustry.biz), Activision CEO Bobby Kotick pointed to the N64's GoldenEye as the title that made Ian Fleming's suave spy into "one of the great videogame franchises of all time." He revealed that Activision is currently working on two Bond projects, and that his plan for success involves the obvious: "I think the key to re-energising the Bond franchise is going to be ultimately the highest possible game quality." Make a good game to reinvigorate a franchise full of crap ones -- got it.
It was revealed in July last year that Treyarch, developer of Spider-Man 3 and Call of Duty 3, was to create a new 007 game for Activision. If Treyarch can administer a Casino Royale reboot of the games, we imagine it'll make them a bit like Daniel Craig. We'll make fun of them at first, but the final product will silence us.
