Important takeaways
- IO Interactive wants to create a new James Bond story for players to enjoy.
- The studio hopes Project 007 can grow into a trilogy of games, and perhaps beyond.
- Although James Bond games are mixed, IO Interactive is very confident that it can bring the best out of the IP.
IO Interactive certainly seems like the right studio to create a modern James Bond title. After all, Bond and Agent 47 use some of the same stealthy methods despite their different professions. We don't know much about Project 007 yet, but IO Interactive boss Hakan Abrak revealed some of the studio's ambitions for the title in an interview with IGN.
“We absolutely feel like 20-plus years of training for agent fantasy, creating an agent that travels the world and globetrots whatever, has given us some knowledge of that,” Abrak said. “But obviously James Bond is another IP. It's a huge IP. It's not our IP. It's actually the first IP that's not our original IP from the ground up.”
IO wants an entire bond universe
IO Interactive's logo for Project 007
However, it won't just be a retelling of one of Daniel Craig's or Pierce Brosnan's adventures. IO will tell an original story that will not be the “gamification of a movie.” Abrak has high hopes for the project, “It starts all over and becomes a story, hopefully for a big trilogy out there in the future. And just as important and exciting is a new Bond. It's a Bond that we built from the ground up for players .It is extremely exciting with all the tradition and history that is there to together with the family create a new young Bond for players a Bond that players can call their own and grow with.
It should be noted here that we're pretty sure Abrak is talking about a younger version of the agent, rather than the distinct Young Bond character from a well-known line of young adult novels.
The success of the James Bond IP in gaming has been mixed. Everyone knows the legendary Goldeneye 007 on the Nintendo 64, but the series has always had a lot of mediocre games and movie tie-ins. Before Project 007, there hadn't been a James Bond game in over a decade. According to Abrak in a separate interview with Edge Magazine, the James Bond IP holders were skeptical about another Bond video game, but were eventually convinced by IO (thanks, GamesRadar+).
“I don't want to talk too much about it, but I just hope that we're going to do something that will define James Bond in games for years to come. And it's not just a game, but that we're creating a universe for players to own for many years to come that we can grow with it next to The Farmer in movies,” Abrak decided.
IO Interactive announced that the team would be taking a break from its beloved Hitman series following the release of Hitman: World of Assassination, a compilation title that includes Hitman, Hitman 2 and Hitman 3. Alongside Project 007, IO is working on Project Fantasy, an online fantasy RPG.
IO Interactive
- Date founded
- September 16, 1998
- Head office
- Copenhagen, Denmark
