After almost four years, we still don’t know much about Project 007, the mysterious James Bond project from Hitman developer IO Interactive. But a new interview reveals that, yes, the game is still in the works, is going “amazingly well,” and that it features an original take on Bond.
IGN spoke with IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak about the project, and while he still couldn’t announce anything, he said that the team is hoping for a trilogy starring this new Bond, who won’t be tied to any previous story.
“What’s exciting about that project is that we actually got to do an original story. So it’s not a gamification of a movie. It’s completely beginning and becoming a story, hopefully for a big trilogy out there in the future,” Abrak said. “And equally important and exciting, it’s a new Bond. It’s a Bond we built from ground up for gamers. It’s extremely exciting with all the tradition and all the history there is there together to work on this together with the family of creating a young Bond for gamers; a Bond that the gamers can call their own and grow with.”
IO Interactive previously worked on the Hitman series, which has given them decades of experience making games about a secret agent. They haven’t said if the Bond game will feature the stealth gameplay the series is known for, but Abrak mentions that the studio will have more to share soon … or rather “in due time.”
This is the first new information we’ve gotten about Project 007 since IO released a short teaser trailer in 2020. The team revealed then that it was a “wholly original… James Bond origin story” and that they would be in charge of development and publishing. And that’s about all we know.
This will be the first James Bond game since Activision’s 007 Legends in 2012, which made playable versions of missions from the films. Of course, the standout James Bond adaptation is the Nintendo multiplayer shooter GoldenEye 007, which you can still play via Xbox or Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack.
IO Interactive also announced Wednesday that it would be partnering with Build a Rocket Boy, the studio founded by former Grand Theft Auto producer Leslie Benzies, to publish its first game, MindEye. However, IO clarifies that it has no intention of being a publisher unless the game is “special.”
“It needs to be something that we see ourselves in, not only logically but also emotionally. So I cannot rule out that we don’t do something else,” Abrak said.