Management at Scottish studio Build A Rocket Boy, makers of notoriously panned GTA-like MindsEye, have reportedly installed monitoring software onto the PCs of their staff without informing the workers beforehand. The move appears to be linked to ongoing claims from BARB executives that the game's prospects have been deliberately sabotaged by third parties.
When IO Interactive first unveiled 007 First Light’s gameplay, its experience with the Hitman titles was immediately apparent. Observing your environment for opportunities, using tools to distract or take down guards, employing stealth, the list goes on.
However, it quickly became apparent that James Bond would venture into other areas, including action-filled set-pieces, fast-paced driving and extensive CQC. “Forward momentum” is a mantra from the development team. In a new cover story interview with Game Informer, gameplay director Andreas Krogh discusses how it combines with all the systems to make you feel like Bond.
“Forward momentum is one of these things where we just wanted to…Bond is really a character that thinks on his feet a lot, and we want to bring that into all our mechanics, both stealth and combat.
“In combat, you see this in the way of us having a range of features that kind of closes the gap to enemies. So part of our close combat system is rushing an enemy, but also the ranged combat is like, okay, you might not have a million ammo for your guns, and that means you run low on ammo.
“You have to pick up new ammo. How do you get new ammo? You get it from the enemies that are in front of you. So move forward to them. Use some of your closing the gap abilities. Disarm enemies. You get a new gun. Shoot that dry, throw your gun to the next one. Then he’s staggered. It’s easier to run up and take his gun again, or take his ammo and carry on from there and shoot more.”
That same “velocity” is something that the team is also trying to implement into the stealth – a significant departure from Hitman, where you would usually observe and then mull over your choices. It’s less about “letting you be in a cover to think for a long time” and more letting you “cover to observe your options once you have that, then use one of them, basically and probably one of them will create a situation that you can use for something else and carry on from there.”
Even the environment itself plays a role in all this, especially with the enhanced destruction. “Basically, it’s also in the environment interactions, where if you explode something, maybe something crumbles that creates a new path for you. Like showing you new options all the time because doing something will kind of drive you towards that option, which we then try to always make you go forward, basically in any given encounter.”
Thus far, we’ve seen Bond rush towards an enemy, knocking them over the edge and using their body to break his fall, and destroy a walkway which can be used to venture forth. However, you can leverage the environment in more subtle ways, like luring enemies into a room and then locking them in by lasering the doorknob.
With 007 First Lightout on May 27th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, PC, and Nintendo Switch, it feels like we’re only scratching the surface of what players can accomplish as Bond. Stay tuned for more updates and check out the latest story trailer here.
The 007 First Light system requirements have arrived, and honestly, I'm slightly shocked. For what looks to be a cinematic experience that could rival the likes of L.A. Noire and Mafia: The Old Country, IO Interactive's latest won't take a colossal toll on your rig. Running the game at a setting that meets the minimum requirements isn't going to look amazing, but it'll be something the vast majority of gaming PCs can manage, and if your machine can manage the recommended specs, you'll get to enjoy the snow-covered Slovakian mountains and gilded halls of Kensington at a smooth 60fps, at 1080p.
007: First Light may not be the choppy, stuttering overextender of gratuitous explosi-pixels that its big action reveal led us to believe. The official PC system requirements are out, and they’re very reasonable indeed, only asking for old mid-range graphics cards and merely halfway decent CPUs. Could IO Interactive have delayed their young Bond adventure to May 27th so as to polish up performance, especially around the more Brosnan-era detonationfests in that footage? Maybe, maybe not. But at least you won’t need John Cleese to build you a machine that can run it.
2025 had video games. 2026 will have video games. GTA 6 might be one of those video games. However, it’s currently only pencilled in for console next year. Not that I considered writing about it in this sort of article two years running, just for a laugh. That’d be hackish and beneath the level I hold myself to. Well, by about three millimeters.
(Strokes cat) Good eeeeeevening, Mr Bond. You thought you could escape 2025 without your game, 007: First Light, catching a delay? For shame, Mr Bond. It has, and will now Bondily emerge in May 2026.
In case you missed it, Hitman's latest celebrity elusive target mission is all about Eminem. The rapper has Agent 47 take down his blonde alter-ego Slim Shady, it's all very meta and a tad less appealing to me than the cameos previously made by the likes of Bruce Lee and Mads Mikkelsen as Bond villain Le Chiffre.
That said, a new interview some IO Interactive folks have given to Variety, in which boss Hakan Abrak makes clear there will be a new Hitman coming once the studio have gotten some stuff off their plate, has caught my attention by contrasting Mr Nem with murderbald handler Diana.
I do love a bit of Hitman, and by proxy that should mean I'll love a bit of 007 First Light when that arrives next year, too. Even with its James Bond veneer, it's the closest thing we'll get to a new Hitman game from IO Interactive as it continues to support and expand the immensely successful World of Assassination trilogy. However, it appears that Hitman 4 is starting to come into view for IOI, knowing there's only so long it can keep plugging things into the current game. In a new interview, CEO Hakan Abrak says the studio will begin "talking about the next Hitman" only after it brings the Stone and Knight co-op mode to Hitman World of Assassination.
IO Interactive has had some big things to celebrate this fall, from The Game Award nomination for its much-anticipated James Bond game “007 First Light” to the 25th anniversary of its “Hitman” franchise last month to the Monday release of its “Hitman: World of Assassination” in-game collaboration with Eminem. And there’s much more to come […]
IO Interactive is quickly approaching the launch date for what has been described as the peanut butter and chocolate of video games: IO Interactive behind a new James Bond game. 007 First Light will arrive on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S on March 27, 2026, and leading up to that launch, IO Interactive has kicked off a new series of videos on the game's YouTube channel called Beyond the Light, going behind the scenes of the game's development. The first episode of the series includes reactions and insights from the developers regarding gameplay, with IO Interactive's gameplay director on […]
Developer IO Interactive may have its sights currently set on the upcoming James Bond origin story 007 First Light, but that doesn't mean we have seen the last of the studio's Hitman series.
Hitman: World of Assassination has sold over 25 million copies, confirming its success. IO Interactive is developing 007 First Light and Project Fantasy, with future Hitman news expected in 2028.
Speaking during an interview with GI.biz, Hakan Abrak, CEO of 007 First Light developer IO Interactive, has admitted that Spring 2026 is looking very positive now that Grand Theft Auto VI has bee delayed to November, as developers are spared having to go up against the Rockstar Games juggernaut.
“It would be a lie not to say that obviously spring looks really good,” said Abrak. “I want to say in the same breath that GTA 6 is a welcome thing for the industry,” he continues. “I do believe a lot of gamers who maybe haven’t played for a while will get into things again, and generally for the industry as a whole, I think that will be amazing.”
IO Interactive is currently working on its Jame Bond adventure 007 First Light, which is scheduled to launch in March 2026 for PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S. The game will tell the origins story of the character as he attempts to earn his license to kill, and therefore the events of 007 First Light depict a much more reckless, younger Bond before he became the womanising, martini-sipping super spy seen in the movies.
Rapper Eminem will star in the next Elusive Target mission coming to Hitman World of Assassination, with players tasked with eliminating his alter ego Slim Shady.
We are just a few short hours away from this evening's Xbox Partner Preview showcase, which should give us a look at games such as IO Interactive's upcoming James Bond release, 007 First Light (yay!), and more.
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