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MI6 reports on the success and failures of the
James Bond videogames, as digital adventures have
out stripped
movie
releases in
recent years...
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The Business of Bond Games
17th August 2010
Despite the lack of a new James Bond movie this year, fans can
still look forward to some fresh 007 adventures in the shape
of two new videogames from Activision: "Blood
Stone" -
an original story in the movie mould, and a re-imagined version
of "GoldenEye 007".
Both games will star Daniel
Craig.
With videogames sales often surpassing the movie box-office
revenues on an average week in the USA, how do the Bond games
stack up against their cinematic counterparts?
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As videogame production budgets are significantly
lower and consumer purchase price considerable higher than
movies, it looks like an attractive alternative, especially
when licensed games generate about 23% more revenue than
original content. But for years, with only one major exception,
the Bond franchise has failed to land a blockbuster in
the digital realm. 007 languishes at #26 in the league
table of best-selling videogame franchises with 30 million
units sold. Even Lara Croft has him licked. Mario reigns
supreme with over 200 million units sold.
Unexpected Alchemy
Thanks to countless unimaginative and derivative 'movie spin-off' videogames
flooding the market in the 1980s and 1990s, it was a surprise to everyone when
Rare produced a top quality game for the Bond franchise in the shape of "GoldenEye
007" on the Nintendo 64 - two years after the movie had already hit
screens. |
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Rare would not only reset expectations
for tie-in games, they would also set the benchmark for first-person
shooters forever.
Developed on a shoe-string
budget and selling over 8 million units, and helping Nintendo
sell countless golden controllers and N64 console bundles, "GoldenEye
007" is by far the most
profitable 007 videogame of all time.
As the movie series has repeatedly tried to
recreate the alchemy of "Goldfinger" ("A
View To A Kill" is the closest to a 'remake'), so too
videogame publishers have tried to re-bottle the lightning of "GoldenEye
007"s popularity and financial success. EA were first to
try in November 2004 with "GoldenEye:
Rogue Agent" - an ill-conceived
attempt to create a sequel with almost zero conceptual integrity
to its
successor. Panned by critics and largely ignored by the fan base,
EA proved the "GoldenEye" moniker could not shift games
alone: the game also had to be good. A straight remake was
next attempted by Microsoft, revamping the graphics for a high-definition
release on Xbox Live Arcade. But they lacked the licence
and Nintendo didn't take kindly to the title moving away from
their
platform. Aside from a few screenshots, the completed game never
saw the light of day.
After a year of rumours and leaks, Activision
announced their
're-imaging'
of "GoldenEye 007" at E3 this year. Bringing
the story and cast up to date, the style and feel of the game
is promised to stay true to the original, even keeping it exclusive
to Nintendo's platform du jour. Perhaps it will be third time
lucky.
Units Sold (Millions)
| Agent Under Fire (2001) |
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| NightFire (2002) |
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| Everything or Nothing (2004) |
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| GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (2004) |
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| From Russia With Love (2005) * |
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Quantum of Solace (2008) |
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Above: Total units sold at full-price
for Playstation 2 and Xbox in the USA and EMEA (for
comparison, "GoldenEye 007" sold 8.0 million
worldwide on Nintendo 64 alone). "Quantum of Solace" sales
figures are for Playstation 3 and Xbox 360. These figures
are indicative only. They do not constitute total units
sold per title as they do not include other release
platforms, releases in Japan, and re-releases under
platinum or budget labels. *XBox sales data unavailable
- grand total has been estimated based on actual PS2
units and typical Xbox sales ratios.
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Original Adventures
After Rare had set the bar so high, Electronic Arts took over
the 007 licence in 1999 and quickly farmed out development work
for two movie-ties ins. "Tomorrow Never Dies" (1999) and "The
World Is Not Enough" (2000) sold well on PlayStation and
Nintendo 64 respectively, but did not live up to the originality
or creativity of Rare's
solo effort.
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After catching up on the recent movie
releases, and a complete misfire with the terrible "007
Racing" (2000), EA created two solid first-person
shooters for multiple platforms: "Agent
Under Fire" (2001) and "NightFire" (2002).
Both were original stories (the latter featured the likeness
of then-007 actor Pierce Brosnan) and were well received
by gaming critics and Bond fans alike. After one year on
sale, "NightFire" shifted 5 million units cross-platform
and was one of EA's top games of 2003. Both titles would
sell millions more through platinum and budget re-releases.
The step up to movie production values in
the videogame industry had started in the early 2000's as
sixth-generation console hardware was capable of producing
graphics of suitable quality to carry real-world likeness
of actors and locations. |
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Above: Promotional render of Bond and his female-foils
in "Agent Under Fire".
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Frustrated by the
lack of access, and with no movie immediately in production
after "Die
Another Day" had opened in
late 2002, EA went to work on creating their own blockbuster.
An unprecedented production budget estimated at $3m, and an
even bigger advertising campaign (£2.5m was spent in the
UK alone), "Everything or Nothing" took
Bond games to a new level. Although delay in development shifted
its release
away from the lucrative winter Holiday season and in to February
2004, the lack of competition after New Year helped focus attention
on 007. Half a million units shipped in its first two weeks on
sale, it scored the lucrative #1 chart position of cross-platform
sales, and hung around the top 20 for longer than any
other recent Bond game.
Above: Chart position of Bond
games in the UK since original week of release based
on all-platform sales. "From Russia With Love" is
the only title to slip out of the top 40 and re-enter,
thanks to an uptick in Game Cube sales around Christmas
2005. "Everything or Nothing" is the only
game shown here that was not released during the Holiday
season, a typically strong time for game sales. It
did not seem to hurt as it is the only 007 title to
chart at #1 in the UK.
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Out With A Whimper
It was all downhill for EA. After the critical mauling of "GoldenEye:
Rogue Agent", and the canceling of an original Pierce
Brosnan themed game, the then-biggest games publisher in the world went after
the most-loved James Bond actor. But it didn't work.
Despite Sean
Connery returning to Bond to provide voice-over work, and tweaking the
plot to bring in more action, "From Russia
With Love" (2005) was a flop.
In May 2006, Activision shocked the game
industry by announcing that it had struck a deal with MGM
and EON to publish James
Bond games through 2014. EA immediately cancelled their "Casino
Royale" videogame development. 007 was in digital
limbo until Activision's rights became exclusive, which
meant Daniel Craig fans would have to wait until "Quantum
of Solace" in 2008 to see him in action on gaming
consoles and PC.
The first game on seventh-generation hardware, "Quantum" was
met with mediocre reviews and released alongside huge titles
- both factors which hindered sales. |
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Selling just shy of 2m units in the US and EMEA at full price on
Xbox 260 and PS3, the figures were considerably higher than EA's
later attempts, but still dwarfed by earlier original games. The
Nintendo DS handheld version holds the unenviable record of lowest
sales of a recent 007 game on a specific platform, shifting just
100,000 units Stateside.
UK Sales Performance
| Title |
Highest Chart |
Weeks In Top 20 |
Top Platform |
| Everything or Nothing (2004) |
1 |
15 |
PS2 |
| GoldenEye: Rogue Agent (2004) |
7 |
8 |
Xbox |
| From Russia With Love (2005) |
16 |
4 |
Game Cube |
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Quantum of Solace (2008) |
7 |
9 |
PS2 |
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The Future
Never before have fans seen the simultaneous release
of two major 007 videogames, so November 2010 will at least be
in
the
Bond history books for one reason. Will "Blood Stone" see
similar success of its spiritual predecessor "Everything
or Nothing"? Can "GoldenEye 007" live up to the
(perhaps unfair) expectations of gamers who recall the 1997 original
through rose-tinted glasses? Will having two Bond games out side-by-side
stifle individual sales, or raise general awareness? Whatever
happens, Activision should be commended for setting their targets
high
by aiming at two of the best-selling and best-loved 007 games.
