With 007: First Light‘s PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S release being just a little over a week away, developer IO Interactive has been opening up more and more about the title. In an interview with GamesRadar, narrative and cinematics director Martin Emborg has said that he wants the title to be seen as the best James Bond game ever made.
Emborg’s statement might raise a few eyebrows, since many believe that Nintendo 64 shooter GoldenEye 007 might be the best video game based on James Bond ever. However, this might be based on nostalgia, since the title came out during a time when shooters were uncommon on consoles, and featured a compelling splitscreen multiplayer mode that many enjoyed. There have also been other James Bond games since then, including the 2002 title James Bond 007: Nightfire.
As for 007: First Light, when asked about what kind of legacy he wants the game to leave behind, Emborg playfully said, “Just that everyone agrees that this is the best Bond game ever.” Patrick Gibson, who plays Bond in the upcoming game, added, “Or just the best game ever.” This drew another response from Emborg, who said, “I’ll take that. That’s kind of the minimum that we can expect.”
It is worth noting that, while there have been many games based on James Bond in the past, a majority of them focused on singular genres, like action-packed shooters or slow stealth games. IO Interactive’s experience with free-flowing social stealth with the Hitman series has put the studio in the position to have its own unique take on the franchise with 007: First Light.
Studio CEO Hakan Abrak has spoken about what to expect from 007: First Light after launch. In an interview from earlier this month, he spoke about the relationship between IO Interactive and IP owner Amazon, and how there was a focus on quality between the two companies.
“There’s always some settling to do,” said Abrak about first working with Amazon for 007: First Light. “There are new people that you have to talk to. But when that change happened, they were very, very impressed with what we had at that point already. And we just got into the collaboration, with all the beats and planning we had to do for the marketing.”
“One constant partner from MGM, and MGM Amazon now, has been our executive producer from the other side. He’s been there from day one and is still here, and he’s been a pivotal anchor point. But from Amazon’s side, I’ll be so bold and say, they can see it’s a great game. And having invested and taken over that IP, they obviously want to make sure that everything that comes out is great. So, once they got into it and played, they became huge supporters. And we are very grateful for that.”
Abrak also said that, thanks to this relationship that has been fostered over the course of 007: First Light‘s development, a sequel could happen if the game does well enough.
007: First Light is coming to PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on May 29th. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is in the works, slated for later this Summer.
