007 First Light has been a big success for IO Interactive, which developed and published the James Bond game, but now that Amazon owns the franchise, what’s going to happen with a potential sequel? That question remains unanswered, but now Amazon Game Studios boss Jeff Gattis has shed more light on the situation and strongly suggested that a sequel is a matter of when, not if.
Speaking to IGN, Gattis first clarified his original comments, saying he never said that Amazon Game Studios would publish “the next one.”
Earlier in June, Gattis said a potential First Light sequel would be “done by MGM, and theoretically, by Amazon Game Studios.” This prompted some concerns that IO might not be involved in a potential follow-up. But Gattis said people “unfortunately” ran with the theory that Amazon would publish a possible First Light sequel. Gattis clarified that he never actually said that.
“No, IO’s been great. They’ve been great partners. In fact, I was over there visiting them in Copenhagen a couple of months ago. The game’s doing great. Let’s let the game breathe and have its day,” Gattis said.
Given the critical and commercial success of First Light, many fans want to see a sequel, and they want IO to return as its developer. That remains to be seen, but Gattis said, “Seems like a sequel should be made.”
“Trust that we’re going to be smart about this,” Gattis added. “I mean, it’s market appetite. As long as we feel there’s a desire for players to have the game, it’s safe to say it’s going to be made.”
IO CEO Hakan Abrak recently revealed that First Light has sold 3 million copies and should be profitable.
Should IO get to make a First Light sequel, Abrak said he expects costs to come down. He said 2016’s Hitman cost $78 million to make, while its sequel cost $48 million and was made two years after. The third one, meanwhile, was developed in 20 months and cost $19 million. Abrak said some developers increase scope and ambition with sequels, but IO has a different plan in place.
“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,” he said.
In other news, First Light is set to expand further this year with a Switch 2 edition this summer and lots of new content.
