Depending on who you talk to, James Bond games have either a shaky past or dominated their childhood. For Goldenye 64 kids, it was everything. For me, Bond also continued to deliver with games like Nightfire and beyond. But no matter how fun the campaign might be for any given Bond game, multiplayer is the thing that people talk about for years on end. IO Interactive, the studio behind the Hitman series, is looking to change that mindset with 007 First Light.

Given that IO's crack at the series it's going to be a tall order. We got a chance to talk to Jonathan Lacaille Franchise Director at IO Interactive at Summer Games Fest (SGF), to get a feel for how the game is going. So far, based on the ion of the team, it seems like 007 First Light is in good hands.

Young Bond Was An Intentional Choice From The Start

IO Interactive Is Looking To Court A Younger Audience

Without missing a beat, I had to break the ice with Lacaille and talk about the elephant in the room: young James Bond (not to be confused with James Bond Jr., the sometimes canonical nephew of James). I asked Lacaille if it was the plan from the start, to which he answered an emphatic "yes." He explains:“It was an intention. The reason for going in that direction is because Bond is so strong in the cinema. But it’s maybe for an older audience. We’re looking at an audience on console. A much younger audience, say 25/35, to connect to more relatably."

Given that many younger audiences have only seen the Daniel Craig version of Bond, this approach does make sense, even if folks have been upended by a 26-year old non-tuxedo Bond reveal. Lacaille expounds more on the dev team's choices when pressed: "Everyone knows Bond as he is today. We even looked at his history and who could he have been. We had to connect to our audience…to make him more relatable than the man he is today. He isn’t sure how to use his attitude…he’s not the womanizer he is in the movies. He’s not there yet. His heart is in the right place, and that’s what M sees in him. She wants agents in the field, and in this game, M is trying to restore [on the field agents, but an older man opposed to M wants to control him and sees him as more reckless.”

Lacaille goes on: “I would say he’s young. He acts fast sometimes, sometimes too fast, he’s the guy crashing the party…he’s learning the ropes. You see that in the driving sections. He’s crashing through fences. There was a lot of action that’s not just shooting - there will be reckless driving, and close-quarters combat. We want the player to feel very smart like Bond.” Based on this philosophy, it'll lead to a lot of interesting and unpredictable moments in the story.

Bond has to earn the theme [in the game] before playing it.

As someone whose favorite Bond movie is On Her Majesty's Secret Service, I immediately noticed the theme song and asked Lacaille about any and all influences that other media have had on their version of the character, the books included. He notes:“The theme is from that movie, but there’s no strong reason for that. Music is so essential, though. We had to tease with some Bond notes, but Bond has to earn the theme before playing it.”

Interestingly, the scar on his face, which was from the books, was not originally part of the plan. When I brought it up, Lacaille responded with an interesting anecdote: "Absolutely, that's there in the books, but it wasn’t in from the very very start. It was something portrayed in the books, someone on the team mentioned it and we’re thinking, we’re doing an origin story, include it."

Multiplayer Is Not A Focus For 007 First Light

The Team Wants To Nail The Narrative Experience

Shifting gears a bit beyond the scope of the narrative choices, I wanted to ask about multiplayer. It was not part of the 007 First Light announcement, and Lacaille explains that this was always the plan. When asked if multiplayer was originally part of the design document, he responded "not at all." Instead, IO Interactive wanted to lean into their pedigree: "Once we thought about the project, we really wanted to lean into our strengths. We wanted an action adventure game that’s narrative-based. We’re doing a third person single player game, we’re approaching that side of the spectrum. We want a game people can come back to for years. IOI is the perfect studio to work on that.”

We want a game people can come back to for years

When pressed about the future of the 007 IO franchise, Lacaille says that the team "wants to take some time for 007 First Light," and are "delivering a massive game at a high quality," before thinking about sequels and follow-ups. Wrapping up, I wanted to dig into the relationship between Eon, MGM, and Amazon (which has been quite the story this past year): Lacaille says that everything has been smooth, and the consolidation has not impacted the game. “Actually yes. I’ve never been through that before, but in truth it’s been very smooth, the s are the same at MGM, they’re actually here today to see the presentation.”

007 First Light is due in 2026, and is slated for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S