Hitman dev says 007 First Light isn't "just shooting and shooting and shooting," and spy gadgets will allow for "varied and spread out" approaches to missions in the James Bond game

IOI, the developer behind the legendary Hitman series, is working on a James Bond game, 007: First Light. But how will the team's stealth pedigree translate to the more action-oriented 007 spy capers?

Speaking to GamesRadar+ at Summer Game Fest, 007 franchise director at IOI, Jonathan Lacaille, explains the balance between the more linear, Uncharted-style trailer and IOI's signature systemic gameplay.

"It's either or," Lacaille replies. "IOI has a pedigree, and that fits really well on IP, so we are leaning into that, of course. But that would not tell the full story of who Bond is."

Like Agent 47, Bond is a spy, but he's also not afraid of chasing down parkour runners in building sites or engaging in a shooting car chase through an ancient European town.

"We are leaning a lot on what IOI does best, but we had to come up with a lot of new things that IOI had to learn and to reiterate on to really bring the full Bond experience," Lacaille says. "For instance, driving, not done that before, and we're doing that now."

Moreso than ever, though, IOI is developing a game with a lot more shooting in it than the Hitman series has. "Shooting usually was a failing condition in Hitman, and here it's a big part of the game," Lacaille explains. "We don't want the game to just go by shooting and shooting and shooting. So we want to give the player a lot of tools to feel as smart as Bond in the game."

Lacaille goes on to say there will be gadgets that we can use to help us out and allow us to take "kind of varied and spread out" approaches, which sounds more similar to what IOI has done with Hitman in the past. But, teasingly, he says we'll have to wait to learn more about those systems.

In the meantime, check out everything that was announced at Summer Game Fest 2025.