Several days ago, we ran an article about an extremely cryptic rumor about some of Rare’s classic titles making their way onto the Xbox Live Arcade. 1UP.com has just run a small news bite corroborating the the story, citing EGM’s February issue with confirmation that a Goldeneye port has been in development for some time. Unfortunately, due to licensing disagreements with Nintendo it seems that it has now been shelved indefinitely.

“1UP: The GoldenEye port has been in development at Rare for several months, and was never intended as a remake. The XBLA version would have featured the same graphics, maps and weapons from the N64 version, but with the crucial addition of online multiplayer over Xbox Live. Several characters wouldn’t make the cut due to licensing issues with certain actors.

Unfortunately, the reason GoldenEye for XBLA died came down to money. Our source close to Rare said the conversion was a mere two months from completion, but Microsoft and Nintendo couldn’t agree on the financial side of things. The point of contention, as our source puts it: would Nintendo receive a one-time fee for the rights to the game, or a continuing cut of the XBLA revenues? The latter seems to make sense for everyone, but apparently it wasn’t that easy.”