007 First Light Is Chasing Bond Authenticity In A New Universe

007 First Light marks IO Interactive’s long-awaited take on James Bond, reimagining the iconic spy through an original origin story rather than adapting any one film. Built as a third-person, story-driven action-adventure game, it follows a young, reckless and still-forming Bond as he works his way through MI6 and toward earning his licence to kill. With IOI’s history on Hitman, the game is aiming to deliver more than just gunplay, combining stealth, gadgets, car chases, cinematic set pieces and Bond’s signature sense of style into a full 007 experience. 

To better understand how this new concept for 007 First Light is coming together, CGMagazine spoke with licensing producer at IO Interactive, Theuns Smit, about the collaboration behind the game. Smit works as a bridge between IOI, the Bond licence holders and the many brand partners involved, helping ensure everything from vehicles and watches to the broader lore fits naturally within this new version of Bond. With a character like James Bond, there are many moving parts, and his role helps balance authenticity with creative freedom, while giving players a sense of what to expect when they finally step into this new gaming universe. 

With a franchise like James Bond having so many parts to wrangle, how does it all come together in a game like 007 First Light, and how much back and forth is there? If you say, “Oh, we want Bond with the latest Omega,” is there back-and-forth, like, “Here, it looks exactly right,” or is it more about making sure it feels right?

Theuns Smit: Exactly. I mean, it comes together quite excitedly, and it’s a long journey.

When it comes to Jaguar, Land Rover, Aston Martin, Omega, and Coca-Cola, we have a lot of brand partners that we’re working on and making sure that there’s this seamless integration into the game as well, but that is done not only in a fitting way, but in an accurate way as well.

So when it comes to the development side of things, the development assets and the 3D models and all these things, I help between the teams, our internal teams and the external IP holders, to share, “Oh, here’s the vehicle. Please have a look and review.”

And we’re like, “Oh, you know what? The light indicator actually needs to…” It’s all attention to detail, which is what we care about and which is what our licensors in all shapes do care about. So I think, across the board, you just have a bunch of individuals who care deeply about quality, and everyone ensures we collaborate to bring that to life.

For a game like 007 First Light, with MGM having such a previous connection with all these brands, how do you, as a studio, decide which brands to include and which ones not to include? Do MGM or the licence holders say, “We want to see these brands in the game?” 

Theuns Smit: I think it comes a little from a different angle, right? Because at its core, 007 First Light is a third-person, story-driven action-adventure game, and that story-driven part is so key to this experience. So it is that narrative that drives not only the gameplay, but the need for it.

So knowing from the get-go that we wanted to tell a reimagined origin story of a young James Bond, and kind of the blueprint that we had set out for this journey he’s going to go on, this story he’s going to be told, that story was what formed and shaped not only the gameplay, but also the content and what it is.

“Oh, here, we really want to have a luxurious drive through a desert onto a target that we’re going after. So we’re going to kind of need a four-by-four, kind of off-roader vehicle. Maybe the Land Rover Defender would be a really great choice for that. Let’s look into it. Let’s work on it.”

So the game shaped the needs. It wasn’t the other way around. It wasn’t because we wanted to just go after this name. It was about the authenticity that it already holds in the Bond IP and the authenticity that it brings to the gameplay experience. That was what it was about, being authentic.

Now, on that same note, let’s say you say, “Okay, we think this might be a scene for Jaguar,” just as an example. Do you then have to go to the Bond licence holder and say, “Hey, we were thinking about this. Should we approach them?” Or do you have the autonomy to go in any direction you want? Is there back and forth? 

Theuns Smit: It was quite a creative collaboration throughout, but at the end of the day, all throughout, the licensors really trusted us. Trusted us as a studio, knowing the pedigree we have behind us, 28 years of agent fantasy experience, the successes we’ve had on our previous titles, and just putting forward the vision and the creative dream that we had.

So once we’ve pitched something, it becomes really easy for everybody to buy in and get on board with, “All right, let’s make this happen. Let’s form this success.” So it’s really been a great collaboration all throughout with all our various partners.

Because James Bond is such an iconic character, when you add ideas, did you ever say, “Okay, we want Bond to do these things,” and was there ever pushback, with someone saying, “Oh, Bond would not do that,” or “Bond might not go in that direction?” Or were they very open to your ideas? 

Theuns Smit:  Yeah, I mean, it was part of it. They were definitely very open to our ideas. But all throughout, it’s been a long journey, this game, and we’ve been on from pre-production into production and the final. So we were fortunate enough that from the beginning, we had access to legacy partners in film from the franchise.

Working with the same costume designers who worked on the film, working with similar art direction, working with David Arnold on the theme song, along with Lana Del Rey and the title sequence. There is this long, rich history in this franchise and the IP that there wasn’t a lack of sources and resources to draw from. And yeah, it’s just been really great.

Now, according to the IP holders, is 007 First Light considered a canonical element of the Bond universe, or a separate side story with no connection to previous or ongoing Bond entities? 

Theuns Smit: The thing is that 007 First Light is very much bringing the next chapter of Bond in gaming. So there is a bit of that split from the cinematic universe into the gaming universe. We’re telling our own story here. It’s not a story of a previous film, or an upcoming film, or anything like that. It is our take on a young James Bond, and we were very fortunate that we had the belief and support from the licensors all throughout to see our vision, believe in it and help us bring it to life.

So this is really, really exciting. As we mentioned earlier, there hasn’t been another Bond game release in about 14 years, and bringing a Bond game like this to life, which has a whole 360 experience, is not just about shooting. It’s not just about gadgets. It’s not just about chases. It’s about all of that combined. It has a real 360 offering, where you get to step into this world.

So if you are quite a Bond fan, you’re going to be eating good. There’s a lot here for you. There’s MI6 to go and explore, this Q lab, there’s all of this. But also, if you’re the kind of player who perhaps doesn’t have as tight of a connection to the Bond universe, at its core, there’s still this fantastic action-adventure game, and that is something that we feel there’s a lot of desire for in the gaming space right now.

And as a player myself, who loves story-driven games, it just really fits like a hand into a glove. No matter what kind of player you are, there’s really something here for you right now.

IO Interactive has such a long history of making this sort of game. When starting work on 007 First Light, how did IOI lock in the franchise to be able to make this game, if you can say? 

Theuns Smit: I think it’s public knowledge by now that’s been shared before, but early on in the days, when we approached the licensors, we actually used one of our existing levels with Agent 47 from Hitman, and just kind of showed them the breadth and depth that we can bring to gaming.

As I said before, it’s not just racing or shooting or this or that, but there’s a whole world that we can bring to life, because we’re known for deep, immersive worlds and locations that we can bring to life. And so I think the proof was in the pudding. We showed them what it is we bring to the table and where it is we want to take it.

The combination of that background foundation and that forward vision that we had really kind of sealed the deal, and the rest is history, as they say. It went from there, and it just grew and grew and became this fantastic, beautiful thing.

Now, you mentioned that launch is only the beginning for the 007 First Light. How does working with the licence owner and all the brands you have brought into this continue going forward? Is it a matter of constantly saying, “We want to add this section or this content,” and is there still that kind of back and forth? How does it work when you want to take the game in a new direction after launch? 

Theuns Smit: I mean, what we’re doing right now with our tactical simulations, as we mentioned, Tac-Sim, it is still part of the core game experience. It is still one and the same game. It is within the same narrative universe.

So even though there is a little bit of a, you could say, meta element to it, it is grounded in some truth and reality. This is a section within Q lab that does additional training and research. And you, as an agent, get to experience these different setups.

And then from a gameplay point of view, we obviously go into some different mission types of challenges and things like that, to give you as a player that replayability, that push yourself to how far can you go? How well can you pull this off? There’s a scoring system involved, XP to gain, and gadgets to upgrade within this track of it.

So it’s definitely part of the core package. But obviously, the main campaign and the main story that we’re telling is a really important focus for us. And then, as soon as you have completed the main game, all of Tac-Sim opens up for you. At some point before that, there’s a section of it that’s open for you, so we kind of play in between there, and that gives a nice incentive as well to have that experience.

One final question, just for people who are eagerly waiting for 007 First Light. What would you tell them? They love Bond and love what they have seen so far. Why should they pick this up on day one or in the first week? 

Theuns Smit:  I think it is such a crazy ride, such an amazing, visceral experience of bringing Bond to life. And because it is so story-driven and so story-focused, the earlier you get this game, the safer you are from getting into any secret plots. And we know we have you guys here working with us on that today, because you’re getting some really nice, juicy things in this play session today.

But I think it’s just, if you’re an action-adventure player, if you’re a story-driven player, if you like third-person games, if you like Bond, if you want to have fun, there’s so much on offer here. And I can just say that proudly, that the team back home have really poured their hearts and souls into this, and it is so exciting to bring this to life.

I think that it is really going to be just an amazing experience that we don’t want you to miss out on.

Awesome. Thank you so much.

Theuns Smit:  You as well, appreciate it. Thank you.

007 First Light releases on May 27, 2026, for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5, with a Nintendo Switch 2 release coming this summer.