We’ve identified for a while now that IO Interactive, the studio behind the improbable Hitman video games, is engaged on a brand new James Bond recreation. And whereas that group looks as if an ideal match and a brand new Bond recreation appears lengthy overdue, based on IOI, the group needed to guarantee the oldsters 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 among the most well-known and beloved video video games in historical past. It popularized FPS video games on consoles, bought 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 stated, you’d suppose Eon Productions—the oldsters who personal the Bond franchise—could be excited a couple of new recreation based mostly on its in style spy. However based on the devs behind it, that wasn’t the case—and you may 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 in regards to the still-in-development 007 recreation, detailing their imaginative and prescient for the undertaking. However the two additionally defined that it took lots of convincing to get Eon Productions to log out on the undertaking, because the Bond homeowners didn’t need yet one more “action-oriented” FPS.
“Our impression was clearly that [at the time] they weren’t in search of a recreation,” stated IO Interactive CEO and co-owner Hakan Abrak. “And I believe it’s honest that they won’t have been super-happy with a number of the later video games.”
The co-owners of IO Interactive pitched Eon Productions on a James Bond recreation 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 undertaking could be about getting out and in of a location with out inflicting a lot collateral injury or partaking in violence until wanted. In different phrases, IO Interactive’s undertaking gained’t be Bond operating down limitless 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 a substitute, it seems like it is going to 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 method “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 undertaking. And truthfully, after enjoying far too many Bond shooters, I can’t look forward to a extra stealth-oriented spy recreation. I’ve stated earlier than that IOI is one of the best developer to make a contemporary 007 recreation and I can’t wait to see what the studio is engaged on when it lastly reveals extra about Undertaking 007.
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