Developer IO Interactive is celebrating after 007 First Light sold 3 million copies in less than two weeks.
IOI had announced 2.7 million sales in a week, but in an interview with IGN’s Simon Cardy in Los Angeles yesterday, CEO Hakan Abrak said the James Bond adventure game is now up to 3 million, having gone on sale on May 26. “I’m feeling absolutely amazing,” Abrak said when asked how he felt about the launch of 007 First Light. Its success comes without the help of a Nintendo Switch 2 version, which is expected to arrive later this summer.
Not only has 007 First Light launched to strong sales, but it’s critically acclaimed. It has 88 on Metacritic, with IGN’s 007 First Light review returning a 9/10. We said: “Demonstrably obsessed with bringing the Bond fantasy to life in a way no one has ever managed before, 007 First Light is the best Bond game I’ve ever played.”
Abrak told us that he made a speech during a town hall meeting five minutes before the reviews went live, telling staff that the most important thing is “not those people telling us whether we’re worthy of this, it’s how we feel about this… just in case things were s**t!”
When the positive review scores came flooding in, Abrak said he cried. “It was an extremely emotional moment. Like almost seven years. I’m just happy because the team is 10 feet tall.”
007 First Light is the Danish studio’s fastest-selling game, which means it’s sold faster than any Hitman game it’s worked on. “By all measures it’s freaking successful,” Abrak said, confirming 007 First Light is beating the company’s internal expectations. “It’s just going and it’s fantastic,” he added.
The big question now is whether 007 First Light will turn a profit for IOI. Recent reports from the Danish press claimed the game cost 1.3 billion Danish krone (approx. $200 million) to develop over the course of seven years. That would make it the most expensive entertainment product in the country’s history.
But Abrak cast doubt on the accuracy of the $200 million figure as a straightforward budget cost, insisting it includes a number of costs associated with the development and release of the game.
“We give big fat bonuses to our teams if they do hit a few goals,” Abrak said. “There’s some bonuses in there to be paid out in the future. There’s marketing in there and whatnot. So it’s not the actual cost of the product. But we’ll come up with all that. It’s by far the most expensive one, but it’s not like for the game itself, not $200 million.”
Abrak said that two weeks in, he’s now “very confident” 007 First Light will be profitable for IOI. “There’s some royalty models and whatnot around this, but we are well above our forecasts at this point,” he added. And of course there’s plenty more to come with the game. IOI just outlined 007 First Light’s first year of content, and it sounds like the developer will use the post-launch model established with its successful Hitman World of Assassination trilogy to keep Bond relevant for some time. “I think this is going to be a very special journey,” Abrak enthused.
All eyes are now on a sequel, which 007 First Light clearly sets up. But confusing statements coming out of James Bond rights holder Amazon over the publishing of future titles (IOI self-published 007 First Light) has called the planned trilogy of games into question.
Abrak, though, painted a rosy picture of IOI’s relationship with Amazon, and said the two companies will get together to issue a joint statement on what happens next soon enough.
“We have a great relationship with Prime Video, where this licence collaboration is residing,” Abrak said. “They’re here today and we’re just high fiving and having a good time. There will be information about this in the future. But for now it’s just First Light 007 and just enjoying what’s happening right now.”
Assuming IOI does get to make a sequel, it sounds like it will be cheaper to develop and launch because the developer will be able to lean on the work it’s already done for 007 First Light. Abrak said the cost associated with each World of Assassination title came down, and he’d expect the same with future James Bond games.
“The first World of Assassination (2016’s Hitman) cost around $78 million. And the second one took two-and-a half years versus the four-and-a-half years, five years, and cost $48 million. And the third one took 20 months, and it cost us $19 million. And that was the highest-rated one,” Abrak explained.
“So the way we develop games is like, we’re not like some other developers, who are like, ‘Oh, we have a hit, so it must cost us double the next one. It must be much more ambitious.’ Ambition is not necessarily that it’s more expensive. Ambition is, the platform you build, how do you keep giving amazing experiences from that and how do you iterate on a sequel from that in a smart way, where it’s retroactively maybe lifting the first one as well, like we did with World of Assassination? Some of this approach to concept and ambition, one could think could be applied to Bond as well.”
Our 007 First Light Guide has all the Essential Tips and Tricks you need to survive your first assignments, plus 6 Tips for Mastering Stealth so you can stay out of sight. There are plenty of achievements to unlock and collectibles to get your hands on, so check our guide to All Collectible Locations to make sure you don’t miss out. For a helping hand with your missions, head to our in-progress Walkthrough, and our guide to all the Safe Combinations and Keypad Codes.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
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