We’ve recognized for a while now that IO Interactive, the studio behind the improbable Hitman video games, is engaged on a brand new James Bond sport. And whereas that group looks like an ideal match and a brand new Bond sport appears lengthy overdue, in line with IOI, the group needed to guarantee the parents who personal the spy franchise that it wasn’t going to make one other FPS so as to persuade them at hand over the rights.
GoldenEye 007 on the Nintendo 64 is likely one of the most well-known and beloved video video games in historical past. It popularized FPS video games on consoles, offered over eight million copies, and led to dozens of comparable James Bond FPS video games. I’d argue the video games helped develop the franchise’s viewers. With all that mentioned, you’d assume Eon Productions—the parents who personal the Bond franchise—can be excited a few new sport based mostly on its widespread spy. However in line with the devs behind it, that wasn’t the case—and you’ll blame GoldenEye for that.
Within the latest version of Edge journal, as reported by GamesRadar, IO Interactive co-owners Hakan Abrak and Christian Elverdam talked concerning the still-in-development 007 sport, detailing their imaginative and prescient for the mission. However the two additionally defined that it took lots of convincing to get Eon Productions to log out on the mission, because the Bond house owners didn’t need one more “action-oriented” FPS.
“Our impression was clearly that [at the time] they weren’t in search of a sport,” mentioned IO Interactive CEO and co-owner Hakan Abrak. “And I believe it’s truthful that they may not have been super-happy with among the later video games.”
The co-owners of IO Interactive pitched Eon Productions on a James Bond sport that was much less GoldenEye and extra about being a globe-trotting, stealth-oriented spy. Elverdam defined that its pitch to Eon centered on how its 007 mission can be about getting out and in of a location with out inflicting a lot collateral harm or partaking in violence until wanted. In different phrases, IO Interactive’s mission received’t be Bond working down infinite corridors carrying 20 weapons and taking pictures everybody he encounters, which is how I might describe the overwhelming majority of 007 video games made within the final 20 years. As an alternative, it seems like it can play much more just like the Hitman video games, the place violence is usually a final resort and stealthy gameplay is king.
Elverdam instructed Edge that this strategy “helped [IO Interactive] persuade Eon that there’s a sophistication in how we deal with the agent fantasy.” This appears to have been sufficient to get the inexperienced mild and let IO make its Bond mission. And actually, after taking part in far too many Bond shooters, I can’t look forward to a extra stealth-oriented spy sport. I’ve mentioned earlier than that IOI is the perfect developer to make a contemporary 007 sport and I can’t wait to see what the studio is engaged on when it lastly reveals extra about Mission 007.
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