Amazon Claims Future 007 Games From IO Interactive

"We did not make First Light. 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."

That's Jeff Gattis, GM of gaming at Amazon, explaining in an interview with Polygon why IO Interactive was able to self-publish 007 First Light and why the studio won't get that privilege again. According to Gattis, future James Bond games will be "done by MGM and, theoretically, by Amazon Game Studios." IO Interactive signed its deal with MGM and EON Productions before Amazon acquired MGM in 2021, giving the Hitman developer the rare freedom to publish a major licensed game on its own terms. That window is now closed.

The timing here is hard to ignore. IO Interactive just delivered a game that sold 1.5 million copies in its first 24 hours, outpacing every Hitman launch the studio has ever had. It topped the PS Store download charts in both North America and Europe for May 2026, despite only being available for five days of the month. The game ended with a title card reading "James Bond will return," and IO has previously expressed its desire to make a full trilogy. By every measurable standard, the studio earned the right to keep doing what it was doing.

And now Amazon is stepping in to take the publishing reins.

What Amazon Actually Wants

Gattis framed the move as part of a broader strategy to connect Amazon's entertainment properties across film, TV, and games. "We think that's a real opportunity for us to create IP that extends, or kind of expands upon, TV shows and movies," he said, pointing to the upcoming Tomb Raider TV show on Prime Video alongside Amazon's published Tomb Raider games. There's also a James Bond film in the works, which makes the franchise even more strategically valuable to Amazon's cross-media ambitions.

I get the corporate logic. Amazon owns the IP, Amazon wants to build a content ecosystem around it, and publishing control is how you steer that ship. But Amazon Games' own track record should give everyone pause. Crucible was shut down months after launch. King of Meat failed to find an audience. The studio's biggest successes have come from publishing other developers' work, not from its own creative instincts. Handing Amazon more control over a franchise that IO Interactive just turned into a critical and commercial hit feels like fixing something that isn't broken.

To be clear, nothing in Gattis's comments suggests IO Interactive is being removed as developer. Amazon Game Studios is a publishing arm, similar to how it's handling the next two Tomb Raider titles from Crystal Dynamics. IO will almost certainly continue building the games. But publishing a logo on the box. It means Amazon is financing the project, which means Amazon gets a bigger say in scope, direction, monetisation, and release timing. If you've watched what happens when a massive corporation starts optimising a beloved franchise for "synergy," you know that's not always good news for the people actually playing the games.

IO Interactive built 007 First Light on a reported $200 million budget, making it Denmark's most expensive entertainment project. The studio did that while self-publishing, maintaining creative independence clearly paid off. Reviews were overwhelmingly positive, with critics calling it the best Bond game since GoldenEye. The ending sets up a sequel that fans are already anticipating. All of that happened without Amazon's publishing apparatus involved.

Whether IO can maintain that same quality and creative freedom with Amazon holding the purse strings is the question that matters now. Amazon's entertainment division has shown it's willing to spend big, but spending big and spending smart aren't the same thing. IO Interactive proved it can do both. The sequel will tell us whether Amazon lets them keep doing it.