Amazon Games to Develop Upcoming James Bond Titles, Says CEO

The success of 007 First Light has set the stage for more James Bond games in the future. Developer IO Interactive recently revealed that their latest title sold 1.5 million copies within the first 24 hours, surpassing the launch performance of any of their Hitman games.

While IO Interactive self-published First Light, the head of Amazon Games has indicated that future titles will follow a different path. In a recent interview, Jeff Gattis, GM of gaming at Amazon, clarified that although they “didn’t have the full rights to this First Light James Bond game,” upcoming sequels will be produced in collaboration with MGM and potentially Amazon Game Studios.

Gattis explained, “We did not [make First Light]. We do have a stake in it because we now own the IP, but that IP acquisition happened after the First Light deal was already done.” This aligns with Amazon’s broader strategy to leverage its intellectual property and the extensive reach of its entertainment divisions.

He noted, “We do see this continued integration of video and movies and video games, where that line is becoming much more blurry. We think that’s a real opportunity for us to create IP that extends — or kind of expands upon — TV shows and movies. So there’ll be a Tomb Raider TV show on Prime Video that’ll go alongside the games. There’s a lot of things we have in the works on new games that’ll relate to Prime Video IP.”

Gattis added, “This is where we’ve kind of made some bets on first-party content.”

Despite some challenges in establishing a foothold in the gaming industry, with titles like Crucible and King of Meat struggling to gain traction, Amazon may find greater success with its established franchises like James Bond and Tomb Raider. If they can maintain their partnership with IO Interactive, Amazon could finally secure a position in the AAA gaming market.

The conclusion of 007 First Light certainly leaves the door open for a sequel. Whether the next young James Bond game will achieve the kind of success that satisfies Jeff Bezos remains to be seen, but Amazon appears ready to invest heavily in its entertainment ventures before focusing on profitability.

However, it may not quite match the experience of a Hitman game.