A new job listing on IO Interactive’s website has revealed that its upcoming James Bond game - currently only known as Project 007 - is likely to be a third-person action title on its release. There is extraordinarily little known about Project 007, other than when it does release it will be a James Bond origin story. This will be the first time that a videogame based on Ian Fleming’s legendary spy will tackle this point in Bond's life.
James Bond is one of the most famous names in entertainment today. Having first burst into people’s lives as the heavy smoking and liquor swigging Secret Intelligence Service (aka MI6) agent in 1953’s Casino Royale novel, the spy has since gone on to star in countless feature films, radio dramatizations, comics, and even tabletop RPGs. One area that has been somewhat hit or miss for the Bond franchise as a whole is its videogame adaptations. However, IO Interactive, the developer behind the acclaimed Hitman series, hopes to ensure that it delivers a game worthy of the Bond name with Project 007. In January 2021, IO Interactive director Hakan Abrak revealed that the company hoped to double its staff numbers in the coming years.
Now, there are signs that Abrak and IO Interactive are keeping to their word, as a new job listing on IOI’s website reveals that the developer is currently on the hunt for an AI Programmer to join the team working on Project 007. The developer has shared that they would love to find someone with “experience working in 3rd person action games” for the role, within the job listing's particulars. While it does not confirm anything, this little nugget of information heavily implies that when Project 007 does eventually release, it will be a third-person shooter. This will be a change from several other titles in the James Bond series of games, including the wildly popular GoldenEye 007, which was played from the first-person perspective.
There is often a lot of debate about whether or not video games work better in either the first or third-person perspective. Many prefer the immersion that comes from playing a game from the first-person perspective, as it allows them to actually become their character on the screen. Others, however, prefer to see what their character is doing as they soldier on through many ups and downs presented to them. This can be especially true for those games with character creators included as part of the overall gameplay experience.
There is simply no right or wrong answer to videogame perspectives. However, given that Agent 47 in the Hitman series was also controlled using the third-person camera angle, it is not unlikely that IOI may prefer to stick with what it knows and continue this trend in Project 007. Hopefully, more will be officially revealed about the next James Bond videogame soon.
Project 007 is expected to launch on PC, Xbox Series X/S, and PlayStation 5, as well as cloud-based services.
Source: IO Interactive