The blockbuster video game Grand Theft Auto V was released on 17th September and earned Rockstar an unsurprising $1 billion on its first 24 hours of opening. Those who have played the game will notice a few references to James Bond. First of all, a sign post points to "J's Bond". It is currenlty unknown what "J's Bond" is advertising.

Later, in a mission where Franklin must dress in a white tuxedo, the player must steal a JB 700 car, moulded on an Aston Martin DB5, complete with gadgets. A female counterpart screams and jolts the steering as the player is obliged to use the car's kitted out gadgetry which includes tire spikes and an ejector seat. The car is also available to purchase.

Activision has lost its licence to thrill. The popular games company no longer hold the licencing rights to create new James Bond video games. Electronic Arts sold the rights to Activision in 2006 and the deal would run through until 2014. Rumours started after James Bond video games were promptly taken off the shelves in the New Year and on the internet.

007 LEGENDS which was released by Activision last year received poor reviews and sales, causing the developer Eurocom to go bankrupt. 007: BLOOD STONE also went down the same track when it was released in 2010 after high expectations.

The only truly successful Bond title to come out of Activision was the Goldeneye 007 game for the Wii (and later released as Goldeneye 007 Reloaded for the PS3 and X-Box 360).

Since the James Bond films are co-produced by Sony, it wouldn't be surprising if Sony Computer Entertainment took over the rights.

Here is a look at some of the 007 titles released by Activision over the years...

The new James Bond videogame '007 Legends' had a satisfactory entry in the the UK sales charts, but has quickly descended out of the Top 20.

'007 Legends' entered the UK Top 40 Entertainment Software (all prices) chart on week ending October 20th at #12. Other new entries that week included "Doom 3: BFG Edition" at #5, and 
"Skylanders Giants", also from Activision, at #2.

The split between Xbox 360 and PS3 sales were 51/49 in favour of the Microsoft platform.

A week later, "007 Legends" slipped two places to #14, and then left the top 20 in its third week of release, slumping to #24. The market for first person shooters will be encompassed by the release of the new "Call of Duty" title this week.

Unfortunately, official sales charts are not publicly released in the USA, but industry tracker VG Chartz estimates the game has sold 13,286 units in 3 weeks, which would make it the poorest performing 007 title in recent years.

Reported by MI6-HQ

007 LEGENDS has been announced for the Playstation 3 and X-BOX 360, but Amazon has listed the game on the PC as well. The game will be released on PC in the UK on October 19th 2012 for £29.99

Developer Eurocom is known by 007 gamers for their work on the PC platform with past Bond titles.

Elsewhere, European games sites have spread rumours that a Nintendo Wii U version is in the pipeline as a potential launch title for the new console hitting stores later this year.