"We Wanted To Make Something That We Enjoyed" - IO Interactive On Bringing James Bond Back To The World Of Video Games

As licensing producer on 007: First Light at IO Interactive, Theuns Smit is used to wearing a silly number of hats. He is the man who has to jump between the studio, Amazon MGM, and all the myriad brands appearing in the game to make sure everything is working in tandem. I imagine this also means ensuring that the recently launched Bond adventure delivers on all the things fans expect from the legendary IP.

“There’s layers to it,” Smit tells me when I ask them to describe their day-to-day role. “First and foremost, since we’re working on a licensed IP, we have our license source, and we’re the licensee in this scenario, so I’m that connective tissue between the two from a general production point of view. Obviously, now we are in the closing phases [of the project] but we are still collaborating every day on everything, they’re just as excited as we are.”

Smit says this collaboration involves “weekly and bi-weekly creative calls where we would discuss things together, going through scripts, going through character art, going through casting choices, and all those kinds of things. I would help communicate that and make sure everything gets reviewed, approved, and communicated back to the team.”

What Is It Like To Handle The Bond Brand In 2026?

Amazon MGM is infamously protective of the Bond brand, and considering the film side of this on hiatus right now as the Daniel Craig era comes to an end and a new actor is picked to take on the role, all eyes fall on 007: First Light. It’s being taken very seriously, and in the run-up to release has been treated with the same reverence as Skyfall or Spectre as we’re exposed to the theme song, a new actor playing the character, and an overall experience I think is going to be the start of something much bigger. If it doesn’t feel like Bond from the off, something has gone wrong.

“The world of Bond is over 60 years old,” Smit says. “There’s a long legacy, there’s a lot of key pillars that kind of define what makes Bond. Not just the globe-trotting and memorable characters and all of that, but there’s a sense of style and elegance and luxury that becomes a part of that.”

As I play through First Light, it’s impossible to miss the huge number of real world brands featured in the game, something also true of the movies. One of the first things you do after visiting Q’s lab is pick up a smartwatch with the Omega branding front and centre, while a couple of feet away sits a stacked Coca-Cola Zero fridge if recruits are in need of fizzy refreshment. It would be easy to label this as transparent product placement — which it is — but for decades it’s also been part of Bond’s wider identity. A man working for the Secret Service who is only ever exposing himself to the finest things in life.

“If there is a call for a vehicle moment, obviously we’re going to reach out to Aston Martin, Jaguar, Land Rover, or those kinds of things. On the gadget side, we heard a lot of praise regarding the Q-Watch, which, of course, is partnered with Omega, and so making that link involves working with brand partners for all the in-game asset integration, passing feedback back and forth, setting up calls, meetings, and making sure we always have a strong sense collaboration and understanding with each other.”

And Smit is right. While it’s an obvious sign of the capitalist hellscape we live in, Bond would simply not feel the same if we weren’t indulging in recognisable names or getting behind the wheel of an iconic car brand at least once. It’s core to the franchise identity, and First Light is at risk of feeling like some sort of bizarre bootleg if it didn’t share in such indulgences.

Smit has previously worked on franchises like Star Wars and Avatar over at Ubisoft, so they’re accustomed to the continuous back-and-forth needed to make things finally happen.

I also wanted to ask how Smit feels about the current landscape of licensed games, which in the past were made up of cheaply made movie tie-ins released on every platform possible. It has changed drastically in recent years, with licenses instead starting to call live-services like Fortnite and Call of Duty home with cosmetic crossovers instead, or launching huge, time-consuming, non-tie-in blockbusters like First Light.

There are a few exceptions that fall between the two, and plenty of brands are still being played around with, but they’re either made for kids or by indie teams with clear passion for the IP. Oh, and big boys like Star Wars and Marvel aren’t going anywhere. More specifically, how did it feel for IO to take on a brand like Bond?

“It’s been a really fun and rewarding challenge,” Smit says. “Here at IO, we get to stretch our muscles a little bit, we get to punch above our weight in certain respects, but it all comes down to the storytelling and narrative at the heart of the experience. We also want to make something that we enjoy, that we’re going to love playing, not just our players out there. That is very important for us. Like, one of our main values as a company is game first, and I think that very much speaks true [with First Light].”

In many ways, First Light is positioning itself as a quintessential video game blockbuster. There are plenty of justified reasons why it has been so favourably compared to titles like Uncharted. Naughty Dog’s series is renowned for delivering emotional stories propelled forward by strong characters and immense gameplay variety, something that First Light also pursues, albeit with more open-ended sandboxes breaking up the linear spectacle. Just like our favourite Bond movies, but IO wanted to tell an origin story that didn’t retread familiar ground.

“It kind of unshackled some things,” Smit tells me regarding the decision to tackle an origin story. “We now get to expand into that space, and as I mentioned before, all of this is done in very close collaboration with our licensors, but they trusted us. They trusted us to give us the creative freedom to write the blueprint and what the main beats of this journey are going to be. What is a young James Bond going to be when you first meet him? What obstacles is he going to face along the way? What are the relationships he’s going to build? What are some of the highs and lows he has to face, the wins and losses, and sometimes it gets extremely personal as well.

A Young Bond Means Plenty Of Room For Growth

With the game still fresh in the minds of players, Smit wasn’t willing to go deep into spoiler territory regarding Bond’s journey, but he does talk about how, despite all the fancy cars and larger-than-life gadgets, that IO wanted his trauma and how it impacts him to feel real.

“As Bond goes on his journey from the beginning and progresses in skill, you as the player go on that journey as well. You’re not just there for the narrative experience, you’re helping this character become a better version of Bond. All of that meant that an origin story was the way to go for us, it was a day one decision.”

During the Daniel Craig era, Bond has become a far more introspective and nuanced man, even if it meant leaving behind much of that camp that defined past iterations of the iconic spy. Patrick Gibson’s Bond lands somewhere in the middle, but First Light makes it clear in its opening hours that there was every intention of making him feel like a living, breathing man.

“It is true that we are humanizing Bon in certain ways that maybe haven’t been explored before,��� Smit admits. “Because of his youth, because of his innocence, because of his naïveté, and that is a very exciting vehicle to creatively jump into. We’re used to the Bond that’s already rugged, already jaded, and has gone through the ringer and had his losses. But what is it like for the doe-eyed deer Bond who goes, ‘ah, what a jolly life of espionage!’ Well, he’s gonna get some bumps and scrapes along the way.”

This part of our conversation leans into the name of the game itself, which isn’t just a cool way of expressing that this is Bond’s first adventure: “First Light speaks to that contrast of shadow and light, and that the world of espionage isn’t just a black and white dichotomy. There’s that in-between, and he needs to find his way along. But intrinsically, even though he’s a younger representation of Bond, there are certain things to his character that stay true. His heroism, charging into danger in disregard for his own life, thinking about the safety of others. These traits of a hero are part of who Bond is.”

This interview is part of a series to celebrate TheGamer’s James Bond Day, so be sure to check out all our other articles marking the occasion.