Hitman Dev Hopes New James Bond Game Will Become A 'Big Trilogy'

Damn I remember everything or nothing on Xbox … good times

Devs need to focus on making the first game good before talking of trilogies and beyond, especially in the current state of the industry where something that might be a complete financial and critical success can still be deemed by the higher ups as having 'underperformed' due to insane expectations.

I'll take one good game that actually releases first, if that's ok

This is sneakily one of my most anticipated games. I really enjoyed the WoA trilogy, and think IO can do something special with the Bond IP. (Also, probably don't happen, but a Bond and Hitman crossover game would be awesome.)

Look like there won't be another Hitman for a while. I'm sure 007 will be good , though.

@shoeses I agree but considering this is ioi, I think like Hitman they're trying to plan ahead to make a cohesive series by planning it from the start. Since they've proven they have done that extremely well before I'm willing to trust them in applying that same experience again.

I just hope they don't need to repeat having spreadsheets to figure out what you're buying.

What if gamers want an old-ass bond. Or a female bond. Julia bond.

I believe these are the best devs to be working on 007. Loved the hitman series (still do) cant wait to see what there are cooking.
Would be cool if you had the option to choose your special agent. 006, 007, 008
Traditional bond (7) and the other options are a more older guy or even a female for those who want that.

I never knew a Bond game was in development. This makes me happy to hear because I've said a few times we haven't had a Bond game since X360/PS3 days. The concept they're talking about here is interesting, and I'm all for something fresh.

Just make another "James Bond Jr." game you cowards. That's an IP that's just sitting there ripe for a reboot. People love nostalgic cartoon reboots these days.

With Dragon Ball Sparking Zero out along with a new show/anime, I assume a new James Bond movie is well on the way at the same time whilst this game is in production for marketing and what not.

There should never be a female Bond, @jesse_dylan. Never! I know you were probably just joking, but James Bond is a male character created by Flemming, that has been the star of many books and films. There is no reason to make Bond female. The character is effectively set in stone.

To cater to those people that want to see a 'female Bond', then developers could easily create a female spy working for MI5, and create her own unique adventures. They could even have some familiar characters such as M and Q (because those characters do not only service Bond, but also the other agents), but there is no need to take a male character and change their gender. I mean, Nathan Drake is a effectively a male version of Lara Croft, and the success of the Uncharted series shows that you can make a character similar to another, and still have success. Changing Bond's sex would, to my mind, be disrespectful to not only Flemming, but to men generally, just as changing Lara Croft to a male would be disrespectful to women.

@jesse_dylan Not Sarah Bond? Captain Obvious is disappointed in you.

@TheSimulator Me too, loved that game on Xbox.

@Fiendish-Beaver bro, give it up with your black and white, anti-diversity, anti-woke thinking. There can be more than one bond. There have been many bonds. You’re only hurting yourself. It doesn’t have to be the one and only Ian fleming’s bond. Sure, that one was male. But having “a” bond with a different chromosome and chemical make-up, why not? Having a “young” bond isn’t particularly Ian Fleming either.

White dudes need to lighten up. No one is coming to get you.

@NEStalgia 😂 yeah I didn’t think of her. She is kinda bond-like I suppose. It would be funny actually to see her and what’s his name in games (in a non-serious way). Mr. Spencer

I think they have proved themselves to be good developers and I’m interested to see what they come up with.

@NEStalgia Honestly, the way they have handled World of Assassination has kinda soured me on the studio. I own the first 2 parts of the trilogy from when they were separate games, and I now can't get the rest without re-buying stuff that I already own. It's so wildly anti-consumer that it seems unbelievable.

Them planning this to be a trilogy makes me think we will see them pull this type of stuff again.

Wow! What an overreaction, @jesse_dylan! There have been many James Bond's. You are absolutely correct. And every single one of them has been a white male. For the record, I never mentioned race, but if James Bond were to be portrayed by a black male, it would present no issues to me. James Bond has certain characteristics that could easily be portrayed by a male actor, but would not translate to a female actor.

It's just the same with John Shaft; it wouldn't matter if a talented actor such as Tom Hanks were to play the character, the fact that he is white would affect the story. You need Shaft to be played by a black actor due to the cultural references.

Also, it is not a question of 007, because there has been a female 007, but even then, the character was not a derivative of James Bond. She was entirely her own character, but had the codename synonymous with James Bond.

It is not a question of feeling threatened, or that my masculinity or race is being questioned. Indeed, I never suggested otherwise. It is a matter of cultural identity, and I do believe that to be important to be preserved. James Bond has certain characteristics that make up who he is that simply would not translate to a female version.

There have been many very successful female spies in books, films and games, but none of them have been a version of James Bond. If you want to look for a similar character, perhaps take a look at Atomic Blonde. Granted it's not MI5, but instead MI6, but close enough, huh... 😉

@PhileasFragg I'd wish that they would release the James Bond Jr. animated series on DVD or streaming.

@Fiendish-Beaver Sorry--I am super easily triggered these days.

I am not a bond expert and don't have any attachment either really, no bias. You did say Nathan Drake was a male Lara Croft, though, so it's okay for a lady to get a dude version, but not vice versa? I know, that's not what you're saying. And, again, I am not enmeshed in the culture, so I have no feeling of Bond needing to be culturally correct.

I will definitely concede that sometimes changing a character is just done to drive sales, but I suppose most everything is about driving sales anyway.

I suppose I'd actually prefer a female 007, vs a "female James Bond!!" I'm just not very attached to the notion of gender since it seems constructed as much by society as by biology, so you might have a "male" bond who is a significantly less male-ish Bond presence than a hypothetical "female Bond". That lady from Glee would be a pretty masculine Bond, for instance. lol But I suppose that's not quite the same either.

Hope it feels distinct from hitman and is a full game day 1. Been excited since it announced but I'd like to see anything at all from it. Loved alot of the main 007 games, apart from legends.

@jesse_dylan huh what ? I’m saying I’m older now I miss playing that game because it bring back memories … you ok there not everything is what you think

@TheSimulator Did I at you? I don't see that I did. But either way, I am sorry. I am definitely overly easy to trigger lately, if that's what you're referring to.

The hitman games were fun but the 3rd one just seemed to be pandering. I appreciate they including 1 & 2 with 3 though. That was a solid benefit to players.

My biggest concern is this new game will just hitman with different names/skins.

@InvaderFromSpace The mess with Hitman isn't their fault, it was a publishing mess. When Hitman originally debuted, ioi was actually a studio inside Square-Enix, and it was a Square-Enix game. When the game "underperformed" (like everything) Square was actually going to close ioi down, and the ioi management somehow negotiated to buy back their ownership in part because Masuda really liked Hitman.

So then for Hitman 2 they got WB to publish it. But then WB did a lot of nasty things (as WB does), and they weren't pleased with how it was published. So then for 3 they finally decided to become their own publisher, and that's where they are now. So the original versions of those games were from two different publishers, and that's why the newest versions published by ioi directly aren't compatible with those delisted versions. It's a mess, but it's Square-Enix and WB's mess, not really ioi's. If Square had their way, ioi would have been shut down and Hitman 2 wouldn't have been made, while WB was abusing their publishing.

So yeah, it really sucks for consumers, but it's because the first two publishers basically pulled the game, and ioi had to rerelease everything themselves separately.

@jesse_dylan I searched and found no Bond memes for Sarah. How could the internet fail this badly? She actually would be a good protag in a Bond game though!

For Phil we at least have Yakuza Phil:

@Moby I think a lot will be Hitman-esque, and I think that's sort of why it's the right studio for it because the Hitman template is a lot of Bond already. But I think it will feel different because the almost main component of Hitman is the disguise stealing, and the gameplay patterns to get the right disguises, while Bond would have to focus on more traditional stealth which in a way makes it less interesting, but it has to be more traditional by nature. But Bond also traditionally doesn't do a lot of shooting/assasination, it's more sneaking/infiltration and outright running from being detected and using gadgets/gimmicks as an advantage. So the fundamentals I think will be very different.

@NEStalgia 😂 yakuza Phil! What a missed marketing opportunity!

@NEStalgia Yeah, I remember those first two Hitman games... bought Hitman 1 physical on PS4 (a nice steelbook edition, btw), and then came the mess with Hitman 2...

I'm glad I bought the complete trilogy when it released on XSX. By that point, part of the mess was fixed, at least. It's a shame that this publishing mess put some gamers off, because I think ioi, now as a publisher, have a great potential to deliver something superb and something well planned right from the beginning.

The only downside to this news is that we haven't seen the game yet...which may be good or bad, depending on who you ask. I hope when they finally reveal something, a release date won't be too far...