IO Interactive's Secret to Developing James Bond 007 First Light Is Literally Down The Pan

IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak reckons the key to his studio's survival in an increasingly volatile games industry is down the pan… literally.

In a candid interview with The Game Business, Abrak confirmed IO's upcoming Bond game, 007 First Light, will benefit from Hitman's model of keeping fans engaged while keeping development costs sustainable, as the studio acquired "tons of experience now from World of Assassination, and tons of experience on how to extend a single-player experience by giving desirable free content to players."

“I was the executive producer on [2012’s] Hitman Absolution, and I swore never to do more new toilets," he explained. "We were just doing new everything. It was just a throwaway. When we were doing the initial foundation on Hitman 2016, we built it in a way where we would do smart reuse.

“Without being too precise, Hitman 2016… let's say it was a $100 million game. Hitman 2 was maybe $60 million. Hitman 3 was $20 million. And Hitman 3 was the highest Metacritic. It was 85, 84, and 87 Metacritic," he added. "And it had very unique new locations."

Intimating that the studio learned the hard way that Hitman Absolution was a "wasteful production," Abrak now says it "completely changed [the IO team's] thinking."

"Building this foundation, the brick system as we call it, where we can make an experience, like [new Hitman mission featuring Mads Mikkelsen] very quickly and efficiently," he added. "This was a really [important] part of us creating sustainable AAA production. I'm not going to sit here and say we are doing everything right. We'll keep on trying to improve and be less wasteful, but still super ambitious."

While there is, by Abrak's own admission, "a bigger investment into Bond," the director is confident that "longevity" will be built into production.

"If we were to look at sequel at one point, who knows? At IO, we have a really, really good way of trying to be efficient. That's extremely important to us.

“The first objective with 007 First light is to come out with the best possible, most impactful journey for gamers. Again, without giving too much detail, you could expect that we'll be applying some of our learnings from World of Assassination to Bond." I'll certainly be counting the number of toilets we see…

IO Interactive's James Bond game was first announced back in 2020 as Project 007. From the off, IO said that it was developing a fresh James Bond origin story and a wholly original piece of work, rather than anything that followed the events of any particular film.

It wasn't until June 2025's PlayStation State of Play broadcast that we got our first proper look at 007 First Light. Set to launch in 2026, 007 First Light's incarnation of James Bond was involved in a childhood tragedy that left him an orphan at the age of 11, after which he spent the rest of his childhood in various British boarding schools. We later see Bond as a young recruit in the Royal Navy, from which he is recruited by MI6.

More recently, IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak has said he hoped 007 First Light would be the start of a new trilogy of games, though, unfortunately, the studio's beloved Hitman franchise is on hiatus while IO works on this game. We also learned that in addition to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S, 007 First Light is getting a Nintendo Switch 2 release.

As for Hitman? It's not totally abandoned, of course. IO just announced that a co-op mode is in the works for the games, and Mads Mikkelsen will reprise his iconic Casino Royale role as an Elusive Target. But as for new Hitman games, the franchise has officially been on hiatus since 2023.

Vikki Blake is a reporter for IGN, as well as a critic, columnist, and consultant with 15+ years experience working with some of the world's biggest gaming sites and publications. She's also a Guardian, Spartan, Silent Hillian, Legend, and perpetually High Chaos. Find her at BlueSky.