After years working on Hitman, Project 007 lead says working on a James Bond game feels "organic": "It's so close to our DNA that it just feels seamless"
IO Interactive's developers feel "so happy" about working on the new game
A Project 007 lead has said switching to the James Bond game after the better part of a decade making Hitman "just feels organic."
12DOVE spoke to IO Interactive chief development officer Veronique Lallier, and the topic of Project 007, the studio's hotly-anticipated James Bond game, inevitably came up. Lallier was staying tight-lipped about the new game, but did say she was "extremely excited" because it's an entirely new original story for the spy, and wouldn't feature a "lookalike" from GoldenEye, as she put it.
"It's going to be a very cool, very awesome project. I'm super excited about it," Lallier continued. "And I mean, if you look at what we've done in the past with Hitman, 007 just feels organic for us because we've done, you know, stories about agents doing things. So that makes complete sense," the IO Interactive chief development officer continued.
As part of the interview, Lallier also stressed that one key point to a successful studio is to not force an established IP on game developers, but instead to listen to your staff and find out what they want to work on. The IO Interactive lead asserted that pushing and idea on the team wasn't what had happened with Project 007.
"It's so close to our DNA story that it just feels seamless, seamless integration, you know, and everybody, I mean, everybody's so excited," Lallier continued, adding that "the team's so happy" to be able to work on 007. "It's such a great honor to be able to work on such an IP, and we have an amazing relationship with our partner MGM," Lallier said of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the rights holder to James Bond.
Lallier knows she can't say much about the game right now, but she's "really looking forward to being able to say more," because Project 007 is "really fun." Until then, we'll have to just keep on waiting.
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Hirun Cryer is a freelance reporter and writer with Gamesradar+ based out of U.K. After earning a degree in American History specializing in journalism, cinema, literature, and history, he stepped into the games writing world, with a focus on shooters, indie games, and RPGs, and has since been the recipient of the MCV 30 Under 30 award for 2021. In his spare time he freelances with other outlets around the industry, practices Japanese, and enjoys contemporary manga and anime.