Amazon Clarifies Recenet Comments About Whether or Not IO Interactive Is Involved in the 007 First Light Sequel

In what's been a strong year for video games, 007 First Light is one of the game's very best.

While the James Bond movie franchise has been stuck in limbo for far too long, Hitman developer IO Interactive successfully rebooted the iconic character. Not only is First Light one of the best Bond games of all time, but one of 2026's best-reviewed, too.

With all the success, it has people excited for what a sequel could look like. However, we learned yesterday that any dreams of a potential IO Interactive sequel may not come to fruition.

Yesterday, news came that any new James Bond game would be published by Amazon Games Studios, not IO Interactive, which was the publisher on First Light. On a surface level, it makes sense; IO began development on 007 First Light when the Bond rights were owned by MGM. Amazon acquired MGM in 2021, which included the rights to all things James Bond. There was already a deal in place with IO Interactive, so they remained the game's publisher and developer.

"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," said Jeff Gattis, GM for Amazon Gaming.

Regardless of Amazon's Intentions, People Expressed Their Opinion: They Want IO to Develop the Next Bond Game

As you would expect, the news was not taken well. After all, given the success of First Light, you'd want the team responsible for it to focus on the sequel, right?

Fans were quick to point out how frustrating yesterday's comments were. "They have this winning formula for James Bond games in their hands now, and they're going to, I guess, ignore it?" joked one commenter on Reddit.

I understand the concern; Amazon hasn't had the best track record when it comes to creating video games. For all the hype around New World at launch, the game will close its servers on January 31st, 2027. Amazon also canceled several projects recently, including their upcoming Lord of the Rings MMORPG.

To hear news that they appear to be leading the way on a potential 007 First Light sequel and not deferring to the team that pulled off a game that has already sold over 2 million copies is frustrating, to say the least.

An update from Amazon indicates that maybe it was a little too soon to overreact. A spokesperson for the company sent out clarifying updates to multiple outlets.

Amazon MGM holds the rights to any future James Bond video games but it’s still too early to discuss future projects.

They further clarified that they are not only proud of what they accomplished with IO Interactive on 007 First Light, but also stated that the companies have "a great relationship" and IO will "reveal more about 007 First Light in the near future." IO Interactive has not commented on the matter at the time of publishing our story.

In the original interview from Polygon, Gattis adds that they see the importance of "continued integration of video and movies and video games." James Bond would be an essential part of that vision, given that Amazon is currently working on rebooting the movie franchise, with Denis Villeneuve directing and the search for a new James Bond actor still underway.

While I don't expect that the Bond video games and movies will be directly connected, you have to imagine that Amazon wants to make sure both are equally successful. One good way to ensure this is to let the most qualified people possible handle everything. With the movie, Villeneuve is the obvious choice, and the same can be said with IO when it comes to the games.