007 First Light is a hugely enjoyable James Bond romp, and one hell of a first entry from IO Interactive, laying the groundwork for what could be an excellent series of adventures. But they won’t be publishing them going forward, and there’s even a chance they won’t be developing them, either.
Speaking to Polygon, Jeff Gattis, GM of gaming at Amazon, said publishing of future James Bond games will be “done by MGM and, theoretically, by Amazon Game Studios.”
“We did not [make First Light]. We do have a stake in it because we now own the IP,” Gattis explains, “but that IP acquisition happened after the First Light IO deal was already done.”
This requires a few bits of context. First, despite what it may seem, Amazon did not entirely shut down its games division. It gutted it, laid off thousands of people and has almost no developers of its own anymore, but it still exists in a few forms, such as Prime gaming, the Luna streaming service, and working with 3rd parties such as Crystal Dynamics on the upcoming Tomb Raider: Legacy of Atlantis.
As for the deal Gattis references, IO Interactive signed with MGM and EON Productions to make a James Bond game, which they announced in 2020. Crucially, the deal was for IO Interactive to self-publish the game.
Then, in 2021, Amazon swooped in and acquired MGM, but that didn’t give them the full rights to Bond. That wouldn’t happen until 2025. In the meantime, IO’s initial contract was safe, allowing them to make the game and self-publish it.
Now, though, Amazon has full control of the James Bond IP, and clearly wishes to be the publishing label behind any future uses of that license.
This also leaves development up in the air, because presumably, IO signed a deal for a one-off game, probably with plans to make future titles if it did well. It certainly seems to have, officially selling 1.5 million copies in its first day, a number which Alinea Analytics is claiming has risen to about 2.2 million copies sold and counting.
The good news for IO is that since Amazon gutted its teams, there’s a good chance Amazon will team up with IO again. However, they could also choose not, or could increase the licensing fees to where IO don’t think it’s worth it anymore.
Personally, I’m pretty confident we will see sequels and that they will be developed by IO. In fact, I reckon they’ve already signed a deal and another game is already in the works. After all, First Light ends by telling us James Bond will return. That’s confidence.
Review coming soon.