IO got the 007 license because it wants to make 'multiple Bond games' in the same way it handled Hitman
The latest issue of Edge Magazine includes an extensive interview with IO Interactive co-owners Hakan Abrak and Christian Elverdam about the studio's first 25 years and, of course, its future. A huge part of that is a new James Bond game, which IO announced in 2020 as an origin story with its own version of Bond: despite there being decades of 007 games, this is the first to ever take such an approach, with the others tying in to particular movies or actors.
Edge suggests the tone will be «closer to Daniel Craig than Roger Moore», which is hardly a surprise, and that this may be a more scripted experience than the relatively freeform Hitman games. But details remain scant, other than that IO had a tough time pitching EON on a Bond game: largely because of how the industry has treated the character in the past.
«Our impression was clearly that [at the time] they were not looking for a game,» said Abrak. «And I think it's fair that they might not have been super-happy with some of the later games.» Abrak has previously mentioned how Barbara Broccoli and EON believed previous games weren't «worthy enough» and had too much «violence for the sake of violence.»
Elverdam picks up the thread to talk about moving away from «action-oriented shooters», and presenting Hitman to EON as a game that actually discourages a violent approach (beyond the one or two murders necessary for completing a level, of course). «That helped us convince the EON Group that there's a sophistication in how we treat the agent fantasy.»
There appears to be a wider Hitman influence too, specifically relating to how the World of Assassination series played out over multiple entries and years. Edge asks if there's a similar concept underlying the 007
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