The development of Project 007, a new James Bond video game, is kicking into high gear. IO Interactive is opening a new studio to house the core development team for the upcoming title.
The new studio is located in Brighton, United Kingdom, and will be the fifth studio for IO Interactive. The new studio will reportedly be contributing to the development of three major titles namely Project 007, Project Fantasy, and Hitman.
IO Interactive has studios located in Copenhagen, Denmark, Malmo, Sweden, Barcelona, Spain, and Istanbul, Turkey. IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak explained to GamesIndustry.biz that the developer wants to open studios where it thinks the best talent is located.
“We have had this strategy for a while, from before coronavirus times, to meet talent where they are,” Abrak said. “But not just hiring freelancers around the world, but opening studios where we think the ideal conditions are there, in terms of an attractive location, with lots of talent and lots of potential.”
He adds, “All of these cities [we’ve opened in] have something special to offer. They’re all beautiful, they’re all by the sea – all of them – apparently that’s a thing [laughs]. They’re dynamic cities that you want to live in. But also, they have a lot of potential with either established AAA talent, or they have an upcoming talent pool. Brighton is both. Brighton has a bright future in the video games industry. It’s something that will continue to expand. But it does already have a deep existing ecosystem of developers. There are over 22 studios in Brighton, and Creative Assembly is just north of it, and that’s a huge developer.”
The developer plans for each studio to accommodate 140-150 employees. Abrak stated the logic behind the multiple studios is so that IO Interactive doesn’t feel like a video games factory.
“I believe we are capable of thousands of people working on projects together, but I just want to avoid having that feeling of a factory, which can happen when you’ve got 500 people in the same place,” Abrak shared. “This is part of keeping things dynamic and making sure our studios don’t overgrow. I would rather meet talent where they are, be a bit more diverse with different cities and different countries.”
IO Interactive said that all studios will contribute to all projects. The company has made sure that its studios are located in the same time zone to ensure maximum cooperation and efficiency. Abrak also explained that the believes having multiple studios is better than hiring developers that work remotely from different locations.
The upcoming Project 007 will be a James Bond Origin story. Featuring a wholly original Bond story, players will step into the shoes of the world’s favourite Secret Agent to earn their 00 status in the very first James Bond origin story.
There is no official release date or platform for Project 007 as of writing.
