As Hitman takes a break, IO Interactive shares details of its James Bond game
We may not have a new Hitman for a while, but IO Interactive is preparing a James Bond game and shared some details.
IO Interactive’s Bond game was first announced almost three years ago, and we haven’t heard much from it since. The studio also recently revealed that Hitman is on a bit of a hiatus, at least in terms of a new game. However, in an interview with Eurogamer, IO Interactive’s Chief Creative Officer and co-owner Christian Elverdam and fellow co-owner Hakan Abrak shared some new details about the upcoming Bond game, mostly about how they approached creating the origin story. and present the story first.
“First of all, it’s extremely awe-inspiring and literally inspiring to work with the Eon (Productions) team, the people behind everything to do with Bond,” Elverdam said, noting that he “used to protect Agent 47,” in terms of how other people might want to adapt the Hitman series (the games have received more than one film adaptation, none of which have been well received).
“Obviously for them it’s their role in the Bond franchise. So for us it was a quest for a common understanding of what James Bond is… and as we said, we do origin (history) because one thing to show the trust they have instilled in us is that we are allowed to to create James Bond for games (audience), which I think is a deep homage to where our industry is and where the environment is. , in the sense that yes, it’s time to have a James Bond character who wasn’t a movie character, but who is comfortable just as his own playable character.”
It also turns out that this game has been in development for quite some time, and Elverdam explains that the idea for a potential James Bond game dates back to 2013, when the studio was reworking Hitman. “I can’t remember the exact date, but at some point, apparently, an interesting discussion began,“ What if …? Because at that time, obviously, there hadn’t been a Bond game for ages.”
Part of IP’s appeal was that Bond as a character was constantly being reinvented, partly due to semi-regular recasting. Abrak noted that the team wants to create “something that can stand next to television and cinema” and not just something “using IP.”
Project 007 is mostly under wraps for now, with no release date yet, but at least we’ve got Hitman to keep us busy.
