IO Interactive is making a James Bond game

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But will it be a hit, man?

IO Interactive has announced it's working on an untitled James Bond game, Project 007. The teaser video gives no information about the game, but is a version of the classic gun chamber opening sequence from all Bond movies. You can tell that one character in this game will wear gloves, and there will be bullets, but that's about it.

The game's website features this text: "Featuring a wholly original Bond story, players will step into the shoes of the world's favourite Secret Agent to earn their 00 status in the very first James Bond origin story."

This implies something pretty important, which is that this version of Bond won't be linked to the movie universe. Current Bond Daniel Craig's debut was 2006's Casino Royale, which was... a story about how Bond earned 00 status. If this is the case it's excellent news: the superb Hitman 2 shows there couldn't be a better studio to handle such a project, as PCG's Andy 'Nostradamus' Kelly recently pointed out.

Most strikingly, this is not the previously-announced partnership between Io and Warner Bros.,—Bond is co-owned by MGM Studios and Danjak. Io Interactive will be both developing and publishing the game. After a period under Square Enix's ownership, IO regained its independence in 2017, since when it's been finishing up Hitman 2, re-releasing the classic Freedom Fighters a few months ago, and obviously working on this.

In a press release to accompany the news Hakan Abrak, CEO of IO Interactive, says “It’s true that once in a while, the stars do align in our industry. Creating an original Bond game is a monumental undertaking and I truly believe that IO Interactive, working closely with our creative partners at EON and MGM, can deliver something extremely special for our players and communities. Our passionate team is excited to unleash their creativity into the iconic James Bond universe and craft the most ambitious game in the history of our studio.”

Rich Stanton
Rich Stanton
Senior Editor

Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."