Hitman team IO Interactive has opened a fifth studio in Brighton, UK to help create its James Bond game, titled Project 007 right now. A core team is already said to be in place on England's south coast, and along with the developer's other four production houses, it'll "make significant contributions to the ambitious development and publishing efforts on all games currently in active development: Project 007, Project Fantasy and Hitman".
IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak said: "We are extremely proud and excited to open our next studio in Brighton, where we see enormous potential to expand our incredible team and attract the very best talent from the exciting UK development scene. We’re eager to expand our operations to new shores and believe that IOI Brighton is an extremely appealing destination for developers of all crafts."
The latest opening means the developer now has five studios spread across Europe in Denmark, Sweden, Spain, Turkey, and now the UK. In a separate interview with GamesIndustry.biz, Abrak explained how all five outlets will be working on all the projects IO Interactive has in the works — not one studio is restricted to a single project.
"Across our studios, our projects are front and centre," he explained. "Which means anybody, regardless of what studio or country they're working from, they can work criss-cross on different projects. It's not like in Istanbul they're on 007, and in Brighton they're only doing Project Fantasy... they can all work on the different projects." Of course, since James Bond is a British brand, though, the Brighton studio has a lot of ties to the project. Abrak goes on to say the developer could potentially be "closer to 400 people in another year or 18 months from now".
First shown off in late 2020, IO Interactive revealed Project 007 as a James Bond origin story. "Featuring a wholly original Bond story, players will step into the shoes of the world's favourite Secret Agent to earn their 00 status in the very first James Bond origin story." Meanwhile, the Hitman series is "a little bit on hiatus" following Hitman 3, and the developer also has Project Fantasy in the works. This is rumoured to be an Xbox exclusive.
Comments 13
Completely forgot that Project 007 was a thing.
I wonder if it'll be time to see anything from it at any point this year? Do we know when development started, before the announcement in 2020 I'd assume?
Mini ninjas 2 when?
Honestly, this is probably the best studio to do a Bond game. It's essentially Hitman, but the main character wouldn't have shaved his head.
It’s going to be such a missed opportunity if it’s not on Bond Street
I hope this will be Sean Connery or Roger Moore James bond. I want this to be gritty action ,car chases etc.
Hope it will have a much higher quality than usual IOI titles but am optimistic.
Still my dream project would be an agent thriller by Naughty Dog. But since that won't be a thing, this is the next best option.
@Mad001 Sean Connery Bond. Suuure
And if you want a gritty and realistic Bond, it should be a Craig Bond game (or the upcoming one). Literally nothing about the classic Bonds is gritty
@Grimwood ....From Russia With Love says hello !
It's about the only realistic and gritty spy film ever made
@Grimwood Craig LoL 😂 I don't like his bond no teeth bumbling numpty they made bond out to be lol.
When I saw casino royale I bailed. The borne trilogy lot better.
Any hoo if you like those Craig shows that's cool I prefer the old stuff.
Have a good one
I want a proper AAA no movie tie in Bond game where the Devs just follow their own creative direction. Like what Arkham Asylum did for Batman.
@JohntheRaptor And that's exactly what IOI have said about their 007 project.
Bloodstone is one of my favorite James Bond experiences since Goldeneye. While IO is an entirely different studio, I can see many of the Bloodstone gameplay elements being merged with the Hitman gameplay to make an amazing experience.
About time we had a new Bond game. I've found even the lesser rated ones in the past to be pretty enjoyable.
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