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."