Series creator Chris Sorrell has denied any involvement with a new James Pond collection and has some very blunt words for the people behind it. Last year, it was announced that Amiga platformer mascot James Pond would be making a comeback with not one, but two new games for PC and mobile by developer Gameware Europe, which co-owns the James Pond IP nowadays, alongside retro publisher System 3. Neither game seems to have actually come out (strangely, one of them is still listed for an autumn 2025 release on Gameware’s website) but System 3 has recently announced plans to launch a legacy collection of the older James Pond games this October, for the Nintendo Switch 2.
Series creator disavows collection
Normally, such a retro re-release would be cause for celebration amongst fans, but the announcement has instead been met with nothing but vitriol for its alleged use of AI art, including some biting comments from series creator Chris Sorrell. Sorrell had already disavowed Gameware’s sequels last year, saying he had nothing to do with them and condemned the studio’s clear use of AI generated artwork. The announcement of the legacy collection – entitled James Pond Legacy: The Pond Is Not Enough – has been met with similar accusations, so it’s no shock that Sorrell isn’t happy about that either.
When contacted by Time Extension for a comment, Sorrell once again denied any involvement, saying, ‘For that to have happened there would have to have been someone with at least a scrap of respect for James Pond involved, when clearly, as their every action demonstrates, that’s very far from the case.’ He added that he struggles to take pride in his work on the original games because of this and even went as far as to describe what System 3 is doing to James Pond as an ‘ongoing rape and pillage.’
Blunt words for System 3
‘All we have here is a giant reminder of how soulless businessmen have been exploiting a brand for decades, have zero respect for anyone who made the original games, and prefer to use garbage AI over paying developers for any new material. So, yeah, I wish them the worst – I hope they choke on an AI-generated fishbone,’ Sorrell concluded. Nowadays, Sorrell works at his own indie studio SpoonSized, that’s focused on iOS and Android games. Although it also offers contract work and consultancies. It doesn’t appear to have launched any games yet and all its LinkedIn page says is that it’s working on a ‘characterful open world 3D sim/action game with a unique look and feel.’
Collection contents and backlash
As for the James Pond collection itself, it contains the original three games – James Pond: Underwater Agent, James Pond 2: RoboCod, and James Pond 3: Operation Starfish – plus sports spin-off The Aquatic Games Starring James Pond And The Aquabats. Every version of each game is included, spanning the Amiga 500, Commodore 64, SNES, and Sega Mega Drive, and there will be quality of life touches (like multiple save files) and behind the scenes info.
One look at the announcement trailer, though, and there is an abundance of AI artwork and no gameplay whatsoever, prompting an overwhelmingly negative response on YouTube. ‘There’s a pinch of game trailer in your AI,’ says NakoNakoNH. ‘This is the game marketing equivalent of the Glasgow Wonka experience,’ says chinmail. ‘Bro this looks like a s***post,’ says jobo-j1o, while also accusing the trailer’s accompanying theme song of being AI generated too.
System 3 has publicly denied any use of generative AI, even sharing an entire blog post detailing the process behind how it’s redesigned the original 2D characters into 3D… though further responses on social media, show nobody believes them. ‘No generative AI was used in the creation of the artwork. Every stage began with the authentic original James Pond graphic and was completed using traditional digital illustration, 3D rendering and manual artistic refinement,’ says System 3.
