007 First Light Leaked Early, So IO Dropped the Opening Itse

Physical copies of 007 First Light started circulating over the weekend, days before the game's May 27 launch, and leaked gameplay footage quickly followed. Rather than play whack-a-mole with takedown requests, IO Interactive did something smarter: it uploaded the first 13 minutes of the opening mission itself.

"Since a few users got hold of the disc early," IO wrote on X, "watch the first 13 minutes of the opening mission in 007 First Light, as intended on day 1." The studio warned about spoilers but framed the upload as a way for fans to see the footage properly, rather than through shaky, unauthorized clips. According to users on r/GamingLeaksAndRumours, the leaked videos have since been pulled from YouTube.

I love this move. Studios usually respond to early leaks with silence, legal threats, or both. IO flipping the script and releasing the footage on its own terms, in higher quality, is the kind of confident play that actually builds goodwill instead of generating bad press. It also helps that a day-one patch is required to access most of the game offline, which means those early physical copies can't get much further than this opening mission anyway.

The footage itself drops Bond into the ocean after a helicopter crash, with the young, pre-00 agent sneaking through rain-soaked environments past armed guards. It looks more Metal Gear than martini bar, which tracks with IO's pitch for First Light as a Bond origin story. Early access via pre-orders begins May 26, with the full launch on May 27 across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. A Nintendo Switch 2 version has been pushed to later this summer.