IO Interactive Celebrates 007 First Light Selling 4 Million Copies in 3 Months
James Bond video game blockbuster 007 First Light has sold 4 million copies in just three months, developer IO Interactive has announced.
The achievement comes amid uncertainty over the future of the James Bond video game franchise under Amazon, despite widespread acclaim for First Light itself, built by Hitman maker IO.
But for now, at least, there's a lot to celebrate — with 4 million copies in three months an impressive achievement, with the game's Nintendo Switch 2 launch still to come.
Today, IO also recommitted to updating First Light further with an array of post-launch updates, including a New Game+ campaign option, a fresh mission starring pirate king Bawma (portrayed by Lenny Kravitz), plus addition Tac Sim challenges, weapons and cosmetics, as well as a photo mode.
What will come next for the First Light franchise remains uncertain, however. Built as the first part of a potential Bond trilogy, any future sequel, if officially greenlit, will now need to be published by Amazon Games.
IO published First Light itself, similar to how it handled Hitman 3, something which enables it to recoup a greater share of the projects and have full creative control over the game's direction and story. But this deal was signed when the Bond franchise was under the control of MGM and EON Productions.
It remains to be seen how the series will be handed with Amazon backing the project, with the U.S. company potentially having a bigger say in what it wants to see in the game, including synergy with its own plans for a new James Bond movie.
One thing remains certain, however: 007 First Light is very good. IGN gave the game a 9/10 in our 007 First Light review, noting that it was "obsessed with bringing the Bond fantasy to life in a way no one has ever managed before" and describing it as "the best Bond game I’ve ever played."
Last month, IO was forced to scale back work on its under-wraps fantasy RPG codenamed Project Dragon, which had been partly funded by cash from Xbox. But now — with Microsoft laying off thousands of workers, offloading studios and scrapping various external partnerships — IO's game has also fallen victim to tightening purse strings.
Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social