Amazon, Not IO Interactive, Will Publish Future 007 Bond Games

007 First Light sold 1.5 million copies in its first 24 hours, faster than any Hitman game IO Interactive has ever put out. A sequel was never really in doubt. But when the next Bond game eventually arrives, IO Interactive won't be the one publishing it.

In a recent interview with Polygon, Jeff Gattis, General Manager of Gaming at Amazon, confirmed Amazon Game Studios will handle publishing on future 007 titles. "We did not [make First Light]," Gattis explained. "We do have a stake in it because we now own the IP, but that IP acquisition happened after the First Light IO deal was already done."

Why IO Interactive Got to Self-Publish This Time

IO Interactive originally signed on to make a Bond game while MGM and EON Productions still controlled the franchise. The deal - struck around 2020 - gave IO the power to self-publish, similar to how Hitman 3 was handled. Amazon then acquired MGM in 2021, a full year after the project went public, and didn't assume full creative control of Bond until 2025.

Amazon and MGM still worked alongside IO on First Light to make sure the game stayed true to the brand, but publishing rights belonged to IO for this release. Going forward, Gattis said sequels will be "done by MGM and, theoretically, by Amazon Game Studios."

Worth being clear here: Amazon Game Studios is a publishing arm, not a development studio. Amazon is also publishing the next two Tomb Raider titles through AGS. IO Interactive staying on as developer for future Bond games remains entirely plausible, the shift is purely on the publishing side.

Bond Fits Into Amazon's Bigger Picture

Gattis also laid out the broader reason Amazon is pushing harder into games. "We think that's a real opportunity for us to create IP that extends, or kind of expands upon, TV shows and movies," he said. "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."

With the new Bond film now in development, a game sequel lined up alongside a Prime Video tie-in feels exactly like the kind of move Amazon is building toward.

All signs point to more Bond games. The credits of First Light closed with a title card reading "James Bond will return", and IO Interactive has spoken openly about wanting to make a trilogy. IGN's Luke Reilly scored 007 First Light a 9/10, writing "the best Bond game I've ever played." Hard to walk away from numbers like those.

The real question is what Amazon's financial backing means for the creative direction. Publishing control and deep pockets tend to come with opinions attached.