Nine years after a misjudged attempt at a TV-style release model, the director behind the new 007 game says the industry should be paying close attention to a small indie success. Hakan Abrak, IO Interactive’s CEO and the creative lead on 007: First Light, has been rethinking episodic games after seeing how warmly players have embraced Dispatch.

It has been a long time since players last slipped into James Bond’s tuxedo in a video game, but that drought is finally set to end in 2026. 007: First Light is not only a big-budget return for the British spy, it also tells an original prequel story that unfolds before Bond earns his “double-0” status. Even though the project is being released as a complete, stand-alone title, Hakan Abrak has found himself revisiting the pros and cons of episodic design after playing Dispatch, and he believes a growing number of games could benefit from that kind of structure.

For IO Interactive, The Episodic Format Is A Serious Option

Speaking to GamesIndustry, Abrak called Dispatch a “fascinating” game and argued that it proves the episodic format still has room to succeed, especially when the release schedule is handled with care. This is not unfamiliar ground for IO Interactive: years ago, the Danish studio launched its rebooted Hitman as an episodic-release project.

That experiment, however, soon ran into trouble. It took IO Interactive around seven months to roll out all six Hitman episodes, whereas Dispatch delivered its eight chapters in just three weeks. In the indie game’s case, that fast cadence, combined with strong word-of-mouth buzz, steadily grew its audience and helped it pass one million copies sold in only ten days.

Today, the IO Interactive CEO openly admits that the studio rushed the original Hitman concept, building each chapter around a single level that could offer more than 50 hours of gameplay. That scope raised expectations to a breaking point and also fueled criticism. By contrast, Dispatch is built as a more straightforward episodic experience, with less replayability in each chapter but a much faster flow of new content, which turns out to be crucial for keeping players engaged between releases.

As for 007: First Light, the game itself will not adopt an episodic-release structure, but IO Interactive insists that the lessons learned from Dispatch are already shaping its thinking about future entries in the Bond franchise. The studio’s goal is to deliver its own vision of James Bond without repeating the pain points that dogged the Hitman model, while still applying everything it has learned about sustaining long-term player interest with serialized content.

Source: 3djuegos