We’ve lastly gotten our first look at IO Interactive’s new James Bond sport: 007: First Gentle. It’s an origin story of the notorious spy, exhibiting how he “earned the quantity” of 007.
To date, every part we’ve seen has been cinematic and story-focused, so there are nonetheless loads of questions lingering about how First Gentle will play, and who precisely this new Bond might be. Happily, I used to be in a position to sit down with IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak at an IO Interactive occasion this weekend and grill him on every part Bond. Whereas he wouldn’t inform me who they’d solid as the brand new Bond (the web thinks it’s Patrick Gibson, however Abrak says they’re “ready a bit” to disclose the solid), he did affirm that 007: First Gentle isn’t a part of the movie canon; it’s a “standalone, reimagined interpretation.”
“I feel from the get-go that was extraordinarily necessary for us that we can put our fingerprints on this,” Abrak stated. “That is the primary sport we’re making that isn’t our IP. IO is a artistic home that is created 5 unique IPs and we’re doing the sixth IP on the Fantasy Mission [literally codenamed Project Fantasy] we’re engaged on as effectively. So we have now to pour one thing of ourselves into what we do.
“…It was such an enormous alternative to take such a beloved franchise after which a privilege to have the ability to pour our originality into that. And our take was, effectively, we wished to reimagine his changing into story. We wished to reimagine a coming-of-age, this younger man with all his quirkiness and optimism, his wits and his persona. Getting launched to those intrigues and espionage, this harsh world of dog-eats-dog and the way he fares and the way he manages that along with his interior values.”
However even when the story itself is creating its personal canon unbiased from the films, that doesn’t imply IO Interactive isn’t taking cues from the movie Bond. For one, Abrak stated he acquired “some perception” into how movie Bonds are sometimes solid and what the movie administrators often search for. However finally, IO Interactive was left to its personal units as to the way it wished to proceed on deciding on a brand new Bond. And it did find yourself selecting an actual actor.
“It was a clean slate, which is a big privilege, that we are able to solid these individuals or attempt to 3D-model one thing,” he stated. “Is it going to be an actor, or not, and what can we do? In order that was actually, actually daunting. I inform you this, it took a very long time, and we have been by a couple of fashions to determine what we wished. However I feel the method was chaotic, to be trustworthy. I imply the method was feeling it, attempting some issues out, feeling the emotional… And it isn’t essentially enormous A/B assessments on the market with lots of companies and whatnot. It was essential for us to really feel his heat or appeal, his quirkiness and all this stuff. However then we discovered somebody and we’re actually, actually completely happy about it right this moment.”
We’ll be publishing our full interview with Abrak later this week, together with dialogue of not simply 007: First Gentle, but in addition the way forward for the Hitman franchise and upcoming IO Interactive-published sport MindsEye. We’ll hold ready to listen to extra about 007: First Gentle, together with gameplay, someday quickly. It launches in 2026 for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Collection X and S, and Nintendo Change 2.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You’ll find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Bought a narrative tip? Ship it to [email protected].
