Latest news with #ChristianElverdam
The Guardian
29-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Meet the new James Bond: how 007 First Light earned its licence to thrill
Four years after No Time to Die – the 25th 007 film and the final outing for Daniel Craig's version of the world's most famous spy – there is still no named successor to put on the tux, order a martini, or get behind the wheel of an Aston Martin. At least, not in cinemas. However, for the first time in Bond history, the world will meet a new James Bond in a video game, before a new 007 makes their debut on film. As developed by Danish studio IO Interactive for next year's 007 First Light, the new Bond is blandly handsome in a doll-like way. He is fresh-faced, with blue eyes that appear more cocksure than piercing, in contrast to the refined older Bond of most films or Craig's ruggedness – although he is clearly inspired by Craig's man-of-action approach. The implication is not that this Bond will eschew these traits but acquire them. First Light is an origin story intended to define one of the most durable protagonists in entertainment for a new generation of game-literate fans. 'The way we went about it was to start with the origin. Because then we get to play with questions such as, 'Who is James Bond the young man, and what does it mean to be a 00 Agent?'' says IO Interactive co-owner and First Light creative director Christian Elverdam. 'What does it mean to become 007?' Most James Bond video games to date have been shooters, in the mould of 1997's wildly popular Nintendo 64 game GoldenEye 007. Despite the continued success of the first-person shooter genre that GoldenEye helped popularise, subsequent 007 games saw diminishing returns. The tepid reviews and poor sales of 2012's 007 Legends put Bond's video-game career on hiatus, until IO approached Eon Productions with a deceptively straightforward pitch: a game that is less about shooting things and more about recreating the experience of a Bond film. 'There are great shootouts in the movies – but, if you think about it, it's not that many, right?' says Elverdam. Correcting this discrepancy between the movies and games became 'the nucleus' of IO's pitch to Eon: to do Bond right in a video game, Elverdam says, meant letting players inhabit a character who is 'not always shooting'. This was an easy case for IO to make, because it had done it before. Between 2016 and 2021, the studio released an impressive three-part reboot of Hitman, its series about an elite contract killer. With an admirable lack of self-consciousness, IO kept what worked about older Hitman games (prioritising elegant planning and problem-solving over wanton violence) and jettisoned what didn't (a sometimes lurid tone and confounding story). The result was remarkable: a series of endlessly replayable puzzles whose solutions involved the untimely deaths of the worst of the global elite with little collateral damage and allowed the assassin to escape entirely unnoticed. Satirical, witty and clever, Hitman: World of Assassination was a compelling calling card for IO to leave in Eon's hands. 'All this stuff [in Hitman] feels like spycraft already,' Elverdam says, 'So if we take that, and we take some leaps' – these leaps being the things a Bond game ought to include, such as driving, fisticuffs and, yes, shootouts – 'that becomes the pitch for what would eventually be First Light.' The title is apt, as this game is the first glimmer of promising news for an entertainment property in a precarious position. Initially announced as Project 007 in November 2020, the game has survived a tumultuous period for Bond, which began with the $8.45bn (£6.3bn) merger of the character's studio home MGM with the e-commerce giant Amazon in March 2022. While the newly christened Amazon MGM would control the lucrative existing Bond catalog, the idea was that creative decisions on future films – including who would play the MI6 agent – would remain with Eon, with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson steering the family business. Then, this February, Broccoli and Wilson handed creative control over to Amazon in an undisclosed but allegedly massive deal that ended the Broccoli family's 63-year tenure as the stewards of James Bond's cinematic exploits. In the months since, Amazon has begun to announce its plans, and selected Denis Villeneuve to direct the next film. But everyone with a passing or professional interest in Bond is still waiting with bated breath for a casting decision, and what it may mean for one of the most lucrative film franchises in the world. With the next cinematic Bond in limbo, however, a new video game Bond can make a stronger impression. The first trailer for 007 First Light isn't terribly specific but it exudes confidence. It's a montage affirming that everything fans love about 007 will be present. The death traps and gadgets from the Roger Moore era are there, as is the muscular physicality of Craig's Bond, and the devil-may-care attitude consistent across all onscreen depictions of the character. 'If you want to really do this with high ambition, you have to look at the different Bond instalments and figure out what each of them tried to do, and then let that inform your own take,' Elverdam says. While the creative director of First Light has much to say about 007 in general, he is not quite ready to talk specifics in relation to his version. The name of the voice actor playing Bond, for example, remains classified. But Elverdam is aware that, for all Bond's enduring popularity, he is not a character who can just be dropped thoughtlessly into the modern world. 'Every Bond is a Bond of their time, no matter how intentional you are. It's unavoidable,' he says. 'There is a zeitgeist in what you perceive as a threat, what you perceive as aspirational qualities – all that changes over time.' Elverdam rattles off some questions that IO's version of Bond will consequently contemplate: when do you do your duty? When do you improvise? What does it mean to serve King and Country? Why do it in the first place? If Elverdam and IO are clever enough in answering these questions, they may give the next film-star Bond a run for his money.
Yahoo
29-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Meet the new James Bond: how 007 First Light earned its licence to thrill
Four years after No Time to Die – the 25th 007 film and the final outing for Daniel Craig's version of the world's most famous spy – there is still no named successor to put on the tux, order a martini, or get behind the wheel of an Aston Martin. At least, not in cinemas. However, for the first time in Bond history, the world will meet a new James Bond in a video game, before a new 007 makes their debut on film. As developed by Danish studio IO Interactive for next year's 007 First Light, the new Bond is blandly handsome in a doll-like way. He is fresh-faced, with blue eyes that appear more cocksure than piercing, in contrast to the refined older Bond of most films or Craig's ruggedness – although he is clearly inspired by Craig's man-of-action approach. The implication is not that this Bond will eschew these traits but acquire them. First Light is an origin story intended to define one of the most durable protagonists in entertainment for a new generation of game-literate fans. 'The way we went about it was to start with the origin. Because then we get to play with questions such as, 'Who is James Bond the young man, and what does it mean to be a 00 Agent?'' says IO Interactive co-owner and First Light creative director Christian Elverdam. 'What does it mean to become 007?' Most James Bond video games to date have been shooters, in the mould of 1997's wildly popular Nintendo 64 game GoldenEye 007. Despite the continued success of the first-person shooter genre that GoldenEye helped popularise, subsequent 007 games saw diminishing returns. The tepid reviews and poor sales of 2012's 007 Legends put Bond's video-game career on hiatus, until IO approached Eon Productions with a deceptively straightforward pitch: a game that is less about shooting things and more about recreating the experience of a Bond film. 'There are great shootouts in the movies – but, if you think about it, it's not that many, right?' says Elverdam. Correcting this discrepancy between the movies and games became 'the nucleus' of IO's pitch to Eon: to do Bond right in a video game, Elverdam says, meant letting players inhabit a character who is 'not always shooting'. This was an easy case for IO to make, because it had done it before. Between 2016 and 2021, the studio released an impressive three-part reboot of Hitman, its series about an elite contract killer. With an admirable lack of self-consciousness, IO kept what worked about older Hitman games (prioritising elegant planning and problem-solving over wanton violence) and jettisoned what didn't (a sometimes lurid tone and confounding story). The result was remarkable: a series of endlessly replayable puzzles whose solutions involved the untimely deaths of the worst of the global elite with little collateral damage and allowed the assassin to escape entirely unnoticed. Satirical, witty and clever, Hitman: World of Assassination was a compelling calling card for IO to leave in Eon's hands. 'All this stuff [in Hitman] feels like spycraft already,' Elverdam says, 'So if we take that, and we take some leaps' – these leaps being the things a Bond game ought to include, such as driving, fisticuffs and, yes, shootouts – 'that becomes the pitch for what would eventually be First Light.' The title is apt, as this game is the first glimmer of promising news for an entertainment property in a precarious position. Initially announced as Project 007 in November 2020, the game has survived a tumultuous period for Bond, which began with the $8.45bn (£6.3bn) merger of the character's studio home MGM with the e-commerce giant Amazon in March 2022. While the newly christened Amazon MGM would control the lucrative existing Bond catalog, the idea was that creative decisions on future films – including who would play the MI6 agent – would remain with Eon, with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson steering the family business. Then, this February, Broccoli and Wilson handed creative control over to Amazon in an undisclosed but allegedly massive deal that ended the Broccoli family's 63-year tenure as the stewards of James Bond's cinematic exploits. In the months since, Amazon has begun to announce its plans, and selected Denis Villeneuve to direct the next film. But everyone with a passing or professional interest in Bond is still waiting with bated breath for a casting decision, and what it may mean for one of the most lucrative film franchises in the world. With the next cinematic Bond in limbo, however, a new video game Bond can make a stronger impression. The first trailer for 007 First Light isn't terribly specific but it exudes confidence. It's a montage affirming that everything fans love about 007 will be present. The death traps and gadgets from the Roger Moore era are there, as is the muscular physicality of Craig's Bond, and the devil-may-care attitude consistent across all onscreen depictions of the character. 'If you want to really do this with high ambition, you have to look at the different Bond instalments and figure out what each of them tried to do, and then let that inform your own take,' Elverdam says. While the creative director of First Light has much to say about 007 in general, he is not quite ready to talk specifics in relation to his version. The name of the voice actor playing Bond, for example, remains classified. But Elverdam is aware that, for all Bond's enduring popularity, he is not a character who can just be dropped thoughtlessly into the modern world. 'Every Bond is a Bond of their time, no matter how intentional you are. It's unavoidable,' he says. 'There is a zeitgeist in what you perceive as a threat, what you perceive as aspirational qualities – all that changes over time.' Elverdam rattles off some questions that IO's version of Bond will consequently contemplate: when do you do your duty? When do you improvise? What does it mean to serve King and Country? Why do it in the first place? If Elverdam and IO are clever enough in answering these questions, they may give the next film-star Bond a run for his money. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
29-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Meet the new James Bond: how 007 First Light earned its licence to thrill
Four years after No Time to Die – the 25th 007 film and the final outing for Daniel Craig's version of the world's most famous spy – there is still no named successor to put on the tux, order a martini, or get behind the wheel of an Aston Martin. At least, not in cinemas. However, for the first time in Bond history, the world will meet a new James Bond in a video game, before a new 007 makes their debut on film. As developed by Danish studio IO Interactive for next year's 007 First Light, the new Bond is blandly handsome in a doll-like way. He is fresh-faced, with blue eyes that appear more cocksure than piercing, in contrast to the refined older Bond of most films or Craig's ruggedness – although he is clearly inspired by Craig's man-of-action approach. The implication is not that this Bond will eschew these traits but acquire them. First Light is an origin story intended to define one of the most durable protagonists in entertainment for a new generation of game-literate fans. 'The way we went about it was to start with the origin. Because then we get to play with questions such as, 'Who is James Bond the young man, and what does it mean to be a 00 Agent?'' says IO Interactive co-owner and First Light creative director Christian Elverdam. 'What does it mean to become 007?' Most James Bond video games to date have been shooters, in the mould of 1997's wildly popular Nintendo 64 game GoldenEye 007. Despite the continued success of the first-person shooter genre that GoldenEye helped popularise, subsequent 007 games saw diminishing returns. The tepid reviews and poor sales of 2012's 007 Legends put Bond's video-game career on hiatus, until IO approached Eon Productions with a deceptively straightforward pitch: a game that is less about shooting things and more about recreating the experience of a Bond film. 'There are great shootouts in the movies – but, if you think about it, it's not that many, right?' says Elverdam. Correcting this discrepancy between the movies and games became 'the nucleus' of IO's pitch to Eon: to do Bond right in a video game, Elverdam says, meant letting players inhabit a character who is 'not always shooting'. This was an easy case for IO to make, because it had done it before. Between 2016 and 2021, the studio released an impressive three-part reboot of Hitman, its series about an elite contract killer. With an admirable lack of self-consciousness, IO kept what worked about older Hitman games (prioritising elegant planning and problem-solving over wanton violence) and jettisoned what didn't (a sometimes lurid tone and confounding story). The result was remarkable: a series of endlessly replayable puzzles whose solutions involved the untimely deaths of the worst of the global elite with little collateral damage and allowed the assassin to escape entirely unnoticed. Satirical, witty and clever, Hitman: World of Assassination was a compelling calling card for IO to leave in Eon's hands. 'All this stuff [in Hitman] feels like spycraft already,' Elverdam says, 'So if we take that, and we take some leaps' – these leaps being the things a Bond game ought to include, such as driving, fisticuffs and, yes, shootouts – 'that becomes the pitch for what would eventually be First Light.' The title is apt, as this game is the first glimmer of promising news for an entertainment property in a precarious position. Initially announced as Project 007 in November 2020, the game has survived a tumultuous period for Bond, which began with the $8.45bn (£6.3bn) merger of the character's studio home MGM with the e-commerce giant Amazon in March 2022. While the newly christened Amazon MGM would control the lucrative existing Bond catalog, the idea was that creative decisions on future films – including who would play the MI6 agent – would remain with Eon, with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson steering the family business. Then, this February, Broccoli and Wilson handed creative control over to Amazon in an undisclosed but allegedly massive deal that ended the Broccoli family's 63-year tenure as the stewards of James Bond's cinematic exploits. In the months since, Amazon has begun to announce its plans, and selected Denis Villeneuve to direct the next film. But everyone with a passing or professional interest in Bond is still waiting with bated breath for a casting decision, and what it may mean for one of the most lucrative film franchises in the world. With the next cinematic Bond in limbo, however, a new video game Bond can make a stronger impression. The first trailer for 007 First Light isn't terribly specific but it exudes confidence. It's a montage affirming that everything fans love about 007 will be present. The death traps and gadgets from the Roger Moore era are there, as is the muscular physicality of Craig's Bond, and the devil-may-care attitude consistent across all onscreen depictions of the character. 'If you want to really do this with high ambition, you have to look at the different Bond instalments and figure out what each of them tried to do, and then let that inform your own take,' Elverdam says. While the creative director of First Light has much to say about 007 in general, he is not quite ready to talk specifics in relation to his version. The name of the voice actor playing Bond, for example, remains classified. But Elverdam is aware that, for all Bond's enduring popularity, he is not a character who can just be dropped thoughtlessly into the modern world. 'Every Bond is a Bond of their time, no matter how intentional you are. It's unavoidable,' he says. 'There is a zeitgeist in what you perceive as a threat, what you perceive as aspirational qualities – all that changes over time.' Elverdam rattles off some questions that IO's version of Bond will consequently contemplate: when do you do your duty? When do you improvise? What does it mean to serve King and Country? Why do it in the first place? If Elverdam and IO are clever enough in answering these questions, they may give the next film-star Bond a run for his money. Sign in to access your portfolio
Digital Trends
07-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Digital Trends
To make 007: First Light, Hitman's creators had to get uncomfortable
On paper, the idea of the developers behind Hitman making a James Bond game sounds like a complete no brainer. Of course that team would be able to create a great spy game that naturally plays off everything it has accomplished with its flagship series over the past few decades. Take Agent 47's suit to the dry cleaner, tailor it a bit, and throw it on James Bond. What's so hard about that, right? But for Io Interactive, making a James Bond game was an exercise in discomfort. 007: First Light aims to create an entirely new take on the character, delving into an origin story that will allow the team to make a Bond that belongs to the gaming medium. Maybe it would be easy to throw that character into Hitman's immersive sim template and let him take down targets with stealth and his cunning wit, but that wouldn't truly capture the character's ethos. To get Bond right, Io would need to step outside of its comfort zone. Recommended Videos Following Friday night's Io Interactive Showcase, where the studio shared more details about First Light, I spoke with CCO Christian Elverdam about where the project shares DNA with Hitman and where it needed to push away from it. It wasn't enough to trade one agent for another; it would require a studio that's spent nearly a decade perfecting one instrument to learn a new one. 'It sounds easy to mix Hitman and Uncharted,' Elverdam tells Digital Trends. 'I saw a lot of people say that. I'm like 'hah … yeah, sounds easy … '' A 360 Bond Ahead of 007: First Light's debut trailer, I'd wager that a lot of people had a certain expectation in mind. We were no doubt in for an immersive sim starring a debonair spy who uses his brains and charisma to outwit unsuspecting goons. That's not exactly what First Light is. It's not just that Io is going full Hollywood for 007's action; it's that James Bond himself is totally different from the suave hero we're used to. First Light will tell an origin story about the spy, showcasing him as a young, brash agent in training. The move has come as a shock to some fans, but Elverdam explains that the change came from a desire to create a Bond that belonged to gamers. 'If you're going to build a James Bond for the games medium, where do you start? We were like, let's start at the beginning,' Elverdam tells Digital Trends. 'There's this great question of who's James and who's 007? I think James has always been a rebel. He's always been at odds with authority, but we thought it was interesting that most young people yearn to find out what's their purpose. If you put that question in front of James Bond, it starts brewing some magical stuff instead of saying 'this is who you are.' This is a different version of that. I think we tried to communicate that in the trailer. It's a little bit like, hm, he's not fully fleshed out is he?' The Bond we see in First Light's debut trailer already teases a very different take on the character, but he's not totally foreign. The confident spy we know is somewhere underneath all the uncertainty waiting to be fully formed. Elverdam says that the Bond ethos is still present here in the character's moral compass. 'First and foremost, I think James Bond is a true hero,' Elverdam says. 'He will do what's right almost at any price. From the bottom of his existence, he has some element of that. I think 007 is a profession in a way. It's both about being a great spy and a great agent, and that comes at a price of humanity in some cases. It's super fun to play with this idea: What if he's not the perfect spy? What if he makes some mistakes and then learns some spy craft along the way? He's always audacious … He stirs up chaos and expects something good to come out of it. That's deep in his bones as a character.' Really getting down to the essence of Bond wouldn't just be about hanging on to the character's core personality traits. The gameplay would have to reflect him too, which meant that First Light couldn't be your average action game. It had to be something that felt custom built for Bond's skill set. The team's Hitman experience would come in handy there, as it knows how to craft action and tension that isn't just built around gun fights. 'With Bond, our insistence, which was shared across everyone that was involved with everyone in the game, was that we wanted the 360 version of James Bond,' he says. 'And that means it's not just a shooter. That was super important for everyone. It turns out that Hitman had a lot of stuff to teach us because most people who don't know Hitman think it's just an endless game about killing people left and right, but in reality, it's actually about almost not doing anything. There's just a lot of non-shooting gameplay, and that was one of the things we brought into James Bond … I think the movies are clearly action films, but there's not a lot of shooting. It happens, but it's not super frequent. It's much more action, running, driving, fighting, spectacle moments. And that's hard to build, but it's one of the things where we said we have to nail that.' Elverdam is tight-lipped when it comes to sharing any new details that haven't been revealed about the game. Every time he even alludes to a gameplay component, he treats it like a spoiler and leaves a trail of teases. All he does affirm is that First Light won't quite be like Hitman, though that series' approach to freedom will still be somewhere in 007's bones, just as Bond's do-gooder nature will still be underneath the younger hero's skin. 'A Hitman location you should be able to play 100 times. And I think our desire with Bond is not that it's one and done, but it's also not 100 times,' Elverdam says. 'You can't play a level 100 times and keep discovering new stuff. You might replay it because you enjoy the story, and there certainly are different paths you can take in the game, without spoiling too much.' Learning a new instrument Based on the bold changes to the Bond series, it may seem like Io Interactive has a lot of creative freedom here. After all, it's putting a very new spin on a character that's historically been locked to one fairly rigid interpretation. The independent studio does have free reign in some ways, but Elverdam notes that there's a bit of a self-imposed restriction too — one that's also present in its Hitman games. 'I'll be totally honest. I was a big part of reimagining Agent 47 in the current universe. I never felt like I had freedom even though we own that IP,' Elverdam says. 'You are beholden to the fans, and to a legacy and to an understanding of the core. I don't think James Bond is different. You have to respect that there are a lot of people out there who have an opinion about what the character means to them. So, we have a lot of freedom, but we don't have a lot of freedom. And that's actually a good thing.' It's always uncomfortable to learn stuff. If you play the piano the first time, it sounds miserable. As we discuss this, the conversation turns to the Hitman series. While it has been around for decades, its defining moment truly came in 2016 when Io Interactive retooled the series into what it is today. Like First Light, that too was a risk that had to balance fan expectation with creative vision. It paid off, as that game spawned a trilogy that was collected into one live service offering that's been going strong for nearly a decade now. It expanded once again last night with a new 007-themed update that brings Casino Royale's villain to the fold as a new target. I ask Elverdam what he feels the studio did right to make that happen. He cites a lot of reasons, such as its unshakable desire to turn it into a service, but one part of his answer stands out in context of First Light. 'I kind of always felt like you're either making a Hitman game or you're not, which means that you cannot pretend that this is a game for everyone. It really isn't,' Elverdam says. 'And by doing that unapologetically, I think we found a really engaged audience. We're not going to be Fortnite. That's not in the cards. And being independent allowed us to just double down on that. We're here to build the absolute best version of what Hitman can be. And that's the real first right call we did.' It's with that answer that I can clearly see how First Light is a product of the Hitman team, even if the games don't look as similar as you'd expect at first glance. This is a team that has the utmost respect for its audience and wants to do right by them, but also understands that sometimes the right thing to do is what fans aren't expecting. First Light seems to be a product of that thinking, telling a reimagined take on Bond because that's what's going to make for a better story, even if not every fan can see it right now. It's about pushing fans out of their comfort zone, because that's exactly what Io Interactive is doing to itself too. It's creating a game with more cinematic action, a narrower structure, a pure hero, and a James Bond that no one has ever met before. And the studio is embracing it all. 'There has to be an element of growth and discomfort,' Elverdam says. 'Man, we have to learn something here. We have to invite some new people into Io to teach us how to do stuff, which is great! It's always uncomfortable to learn stuff. If you play the piano the first time, it sounds miserable. There's some growing pains there with James Bond. How do we do this again? That's why we do it.' 007: First Light launches in 2026 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
Geek Culture
03-06-2025
- Business
- Geek Culture
‘007 First Light' James Bond Game From Hitman Developer IO Interactive Revealed
Hitman studio IO Interactive has shed new light on its upcoming James Bond game, 007 First Light, with the title getting an official reveal sometime this week. As announced via a post on the game's Twitter/X page, IO Interactive released an image detailing the silhouette of James Bond, unveiling its new name alongside the words 'game reveal this week'. Additionally, the hashtag 'EarnTheNumber' was included, alluding to the fact that the game would most likely feature an origin story detailing how Bond earned his 007 designation. First revealed back in 2020 under the name Project 007 , the upcoming game will feature an original story separate from the events of the films, with IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak previously stating during an interview that he hopes the game will kick-start a 'big trilogy' in the future, and create 'a young Bond for gamers', one that they can 'call their own and grow with'. The new game also marks a shift in focus for the studio, as IO Interactive is putting its renowned Hitman franchise on hiatus and instead placing all its bets on the 007 First Light, with chief creative officer Christian Elverdam previously telling Eurogamer that 2023's Hitman: World of Assassination (previously titled Hitman 3 ) will be the last mainline game entry for some time to come, although the title would continue to receive updates down the line. Hitman 3 (2021) For now, fans don't have to wait much longer for the first official game reveal of 007 First Light , as the title would likely make an appearance at either the Summer Game Fest showcase on 6 June or the Xbox Games Showcase on 8 June. Specific gameplay details and the all-important reveal of its release date or window would likely occur then, although the title was already previously confirmed for a release on the Nintendo Switch 2. Kevin is a reformed PC Master Race gamer with a penchant for franchise 'duds' like Darksiders III and Dead Space 3 . He has made it his life-long mission to play every single major game release – lest his wallet dies trying. 007 First Light IO Interactive James Bond Project 007
