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Judging from the recent gameplay reveal, IO Interactive’s 007 First Light is looking pretty marvellous, and it’s heading to the Switch 2 on 27th March 2026.
Now, in speaking with IGN, game director Hakan Abrak has revealed that IO managed to secure the video game rights to James Bond in a rather amusing (albeit not entirely surprising) way. Essentially, the studio took the (digital) head of Daniel Craig, the most recent actor to portray Bond, and stuck it on Agent 47’s body from Hitman: World of Assassination.
The team then demonstrated how a Bond game would work by exploring the Sapienza level from 2016’s Hitman:
“We actually did put Daniel Craig in there. We just modeled his head and put it in instead of Agent 47, just for demo purposes, giving an impression of what these living, breathing spaces mean in an IO game. And if you are acquainted with the franchise, there is a level called Sapienza with the virus in the caves underneath the compound. So we showed some things off there and, yeah, it was well received.
“I think what they saw in us and what we are also conveying is our angle would be to try to deliver a 360 experience where it’s not necessarily about only shooting and cut scenes — there’s certainly that in our game as well — but it’s also being able to explore the part of the Bond fantasy where he is in social spaces where he is using not only his fisticuffs, but also his charms and bluff and figuring out different ways in those social spaces to overcome the obstacles or get what he wants. How would a charming Bond fare in a situation like this where he doesn’t have to necessarily resort to violence?”
Indeed, we reckon it’s safe to say that folks weren’t exactly shocked to discover that IO, who really did tremendous work on the Hitman series, would be the ones to bring James Bond back into the world of video games. Hitman is basically Bond, but… maybe a bit more violent. Just a bit.
Regardless, it’s a fun little story about how that project came to be, and we can’t wait to check out the full game next year. 007 First Light will be available via a standard edition priced at $69.99 / €69.99 / £59.99 along with a deluxe edition priced at $79.99 / €79.99 / £69.99.
Are you excited to check out 007 First Light next year? Are you even remotely surprised that IO Interactive used Hitman to help pitch the game? Let us know with a comment.
[source ign.com]
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Nintendo Life’s resident horror fanatic, when he’s not knee-deep in Resident Evil and Silent Hill lore, Ollie likes to dive into a good horror book while nursing a lovely cup of tea. He also enjoys long walks and listens to everything from TOOL to Chuck Berry.