The licensing rights for spy shooter franchise No One Lives Forever still have not been located, residing neither with publisher Activision nor developer Monolith Productions, according to Activision community manager Dan Amrich.
Responding to a reader question in a video posted to the One of Swords YouTube channel, Amrich said the individual he spoke to at Activision "does not believe" the company owns the rights to No One Lives Forever. Monolith also told Amrich that they do not know if they own the rights.
Amrich noted that the IP could be owned by a third party waiting "for the right time" to republish or remake the games.
"At this time I do not believe Activision has the rights to No One Lives Forever, so if there were to be a reissue or remake or something like that, it wouldn't come from Activision," he said.
The first-person shooter/stealth series is set in the 1960s and focuses on Cate Archer, a secret agent working for an organization seeking to preserve world peace. The games use elements and styles from classic spy films and TV series.
The first game, The Operative: No One Lives Forever, was published by Fox Interactive in 2000. The company was acquired by Vivendi Games in 2003, and then in 2007 Vivendi merged with Activision to form Activision Blizzard. The second game, No One Lives Forever 2: A Spy in HARM's Way, was published under Activision's Sierra label in 2002. Both were developed by Monolith Productions.
During the merger of Activision and Vivendi, several franchises were sold off, and most of the games Activision retained were re-issued for purchase on sites like GOG.com. Amrich stated that he will continue to provide readers with updates on the rights for No One Lives Forever.
