Hurry Up And Wait

By MI6 Staff

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Bond gamers may be waiting even longer than expected for the franchise's way overdue return to digital adventures.

The last proper James Bond game was '007 Legends' released in 2012 to tie-in to the 50th anniversary of the film series. The disastrous reception of that title not only closed the doors of its development studio Eurocom, but also meant that fans have now been without a game for 10 years.

IO Interactive were announced as the studio to bring Bond back to games in November 2020, although no timeline was given as to when their first title 'Project 007' (announced as an original story charting Bond's path to his 007 status) would hit the shelves. Many commentators suggested as early as the end of 2022 to tie in with the 60th anniversary, or maybe 2023, but almost two years on from its announcement and the studio is still hiring for roles on the team. The last meaningful news from the team came back in April 2021.

As IO Interactive is a public company, they have to produce annual financial reports and also give future guidance as to the expected revenues and costs to the business. This week they published their annual report for the fiscal year ending March 31st, 2022, and revealed revenue of $72.4m, which was a 7% growth year-on-year, and doubled management expectations. Most of the company's revenue came from 'Hitman 3' which was published the year before.

In its report, the company states that it is considering subsidiary studios overseas as hiring the right talent in Denmark, in a very competitive industry, has been a challenge. This may be a significant factor in the slow progress of 'Project 007.'

The big punch to the gut for Bond gamers comes at the end: "We had a couple of years with solid revenue and profits, due to launch of a title. There is risk in the next couple of calendar years... This is due to long production phases ahead before the next releases hit the market. More precisely fiscal 2024 and 2025 estimates show a significant decrease."