After the success of 007 First Light, one Amazon comment caused serious confusion by making it sound as if IO Interactive might no longer be involved in future James Bond games. The company has now officially clarified its position: it says it is still too early to talk about future projects, and it is not ruling out working with the Danish studio again.

The success of 007 First Light was quickly overshadowed by an awkward development. Just days after it was confirmed that the game had sold more than 1.5 million copies on launch day, the head of Amazon’s gaming division made a comment that could easily be read as IO Interactive being out of future James Bond projects. He said the sequels would be made by MGM and, theoretically, by Amazon Game Studios. Within 24 hours, however, Amazon issued an official correction through its communications team.

“Amazon MGM owns the rights to any future James Bond video game, but it’s still too early to talk about future projects. We have an excellent relationship with IO Interactive and are proud of what we’ve achieved together with 007 First Light. Our partners at IO will be sharing more details about 007 First Light in the near future, and we look forward to sharing what’s next.”

With that statement, Amazon leaves every option open. Its own development studios could handle the next James Bond video games, but IO Interactive could also be brought back for another entry. The latter option has strong arguments behind it, because the Danish studio has delivered not only commercially, but critically as well. Sales are estimated to have already reached around 2.2 million copies, while 007 First Light is said to hold an 88 press score and an 87 user score on Metacritic. On Steam, it sits at a solid “Very Positive” rating, with 92 percent positive reviews from 25,277 user reviews. After that kind of launch, it would be difficult to treat IO as a mere transitional solution, especially when its Hitman background made it an obvious fit for a modern James Bond game in the first place.

There Is Still a Future for 007 First Light

The whole problem comes from the fact that Amazon acquired the James Bond intellectual property after IO Interactive had already reached an agreement to develop 007 First Light. That placed the current game in a special transitional situation: the Bond rights now sit with Amazon MGM, but this project grew out of an earlier arrangement. If Amazon ultimately decides to take future entries in-house, that will not affect the current game’s support. Development director Véronique Lallier has confirmed that “the launch is just the beginning,” and that the studio plans to support the title for months, primarily through TacSim mode.

IO Interactive has plenty of experience with this kind of long-term support. The Hitman games received new content, events, and updates for years, so a future roadmap for 007 First Light would be a natural next step. That would show players exactly what kinds of additions, challenges, or changes they can expect in the coming months. Lallier summed up the approach clearly: “We want to keep evolving things.” Amazon has therefore walked back the stronger impression created by the earlier comment, but the central question remains unresolved: James Bond’s next videogame mission will either continue with IO Interactive, or Amazon’s own studios will try to take control.

Source: 3DJuegos