Diff - reception - 007 First Light Wiki

11 007 First Light launched on May 27, 2026 to strong critical reception. Critics broadly praised the writing, characterization, level design, gadget integration, soundtrack, and the studio's translation of Hitman-style systems into a Bond fantasy. Common criticisms covered the driving sequences, late-game action set-pieces, the standard-difficulty enemy AI, and the info-gathering pacing in the early campaign.

33 Sales

55 007 First Light sold 1.5 million units within its first 24 hours. IO Interactive announced the milestone, calling it the fastest-selling title in the studio's history. The figure covers the launch on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S; the Nintendo Switch 2 version had not yet released at the time of the announcement, so it is excluded from that count.

7-In the days after launch, third-party sales tracking estimated the game had passed roughly 2.2 million units and about $150 million in gross revenue by early June 2026. These cumulative figures are external estimates rather than an official IO Interactive count, so they should be read as approximate. The same tracking put the platform split at roughly 55 percent on PlayStation 5, 33 percent on Steam, and under 12 percent on Xbox Series X|S, and noted that players in China accounted for a notably large share of Steam sales.

7+IO Interactive subsequently reported that 007 First Light sold 2.7 million units in its first week and passed 3 million units within roughly two weeks, with the studio saying sales were tracking well above its internal forecasts and reiterating that it is IO Interactive's fastest-selling game, outpacing the Hitman titles. These are official studio figures and supersede the earlier third-party estimate below. A Year One content roadmap of free post-launch content was announced alongside the milestone.

9-007 First Light was also reported to be an expensive production. Coverage citing a Danish national broadcaster put the budget at more than 1.3 billion kroner, around $200 million, over a development cycle of about seven years (the project was first announced as Project 007 in November 2020). Because storefronts other than the Epic Games Store take roughly a 30 percent cut, the reported estimates suggested the game would need to sell well beyond its opening figures to recoup that budget. These cost and break-even numbers are reported estimates and have not been confirmed by IO Interactive.

9+Before IO Interactive published its official figures, third-party sales tracking had estimated the game passed roughly 2.2 million units and about $150 million in gross revenue by early June 2026. These cumulative figures are external estimates rather than an official IO Interactive count, so they should be read as approximate. The same tracking put the platform split at roughly 55 percent on PlayStation 5, 33 percent on Steam, and under 12 percent on Xbox Series X|S, and noted that players in China accounted for a notably large share of Steam sales.

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11+007 First Light was also reported to be an expensive production. Coverage citing a Danish national broadcaster put the budget at more than 1.3 billion kroner, around $200 million, over a development cycle of about seven years (the project was first announced as Project 007 in November 2020). Because storefronts other than the Epic Games Store take roughly a 30 percent cut, the reported estimates suggested the game would need to sell well beyond its opening figures to recoup that budget. These cost and break-even numbers are reported estimates and have not been confirmed by IO Interactive; the studio's CEO has since pushed back on the roughly $200 million figure, indicating the development cost before marketing was lower than the widely reported total and that such games can be made for considerably less.

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1113 Critical Consensus

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1315 Writing and characterization. Reviewers consistently praised the script and the cast performances, particularly Patrick Gibson's young Bond and Lennie James's John Greenway.Level design. The chapter set-pieces (the museum gala, the luxury spa, the Antarctica installation) received specific praise as the strongest single-mission designs in the campaign.Gadget integration. The Q-Watch and Q-Lens loop received cross-the-board positive reaction; reviewers compared the watch-hacking system favorably to similar mechanics in other action games.Soundtrack. The Flight's score and Lana Del Rey's title theme "First Light" were repeatedly cited as standout audio production.Bond fantasy delivery. Reviewers agreed that the game successfully delivers the cinematic-Bond fantasy through stealth, gunplay, gadgets, and set pieces.

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1517 Common Criticisms

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1719 Driving sequences. The most-cited weakness. Reviewers consistently noted that driving feels stiff compared to dedicated racing games and is the layer of the campaign with the least granular control.Late-game action set-pieces. Several reviews noted that the campaign's action set-pieces are stronger in the early-to-mid arc than in the final stretch; the late campaign tilts toward larger combat encounters that emphasize the cover-shooter mechanics that some reviewers consider clumsy.Standard-difficulty AI. Reviewers described enemy AI on the default Intended difficulty as forgiving ("forgetful, deaf, blind"). Players seeking a more demanding stealth experience are advised to bump difficulty to Hard or Veteran.Info-gathering pacing. The eavesdrop loop and the information-collection sequences in the early campaign were called out as hand-holdy by some reviewers, particularly in the training segments and the early London missions.Driving sequences (again). Worth repeating: this is the most consistent reviewer criticism across all major outlets.

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1921 Critical Reception Overview

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2123 Critical reception skewed strongly positive, with critic scores clustering in the high 80s on a 100-point scale. Multiple major outlets named the game one of the best Bond games ever made. The phrase "best Bond game in decades" appeared in several headlines. Reviews ranged from positive recommendations to perfect-score endorsements. Some outlets called the game a Game of the Year contender.

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2325 Launch Performance

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2527 A recurring caveat in otherwise strongly positive reviews concerned performance at launch. Reviewers noted visible image-quality trade-offs in the performance modes on the base consoles and some frame-rate dips in the higher-fidelity mode, and described PC performance as scaling with hardware so that mid-range systems needed reduced settings. The enhanced console hardware and capable PCs were singled out as the better way to play. The day-one update is reported to have improved PC frame pacing and shader stutter.

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2729 Player Reception

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2931 Player community reception, judged by Steam reviews and console community sentiment in the launch window, was generally positive. The Denuvo addition six days before launch sparked the most visible community pushback. Players who pre-ordered before the Denuvo announcement filed refund requests under Steam's standard refund policy. Beyond Denuvo, player community discussion focused on the campaign length, the gadget catalog, the trophy roadmap, and the comparison to the Hitman trilogy.

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3133 Comparison to Hitman Trilogy

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3335 Reviewers consistently compared 007 First Light to IO Interactive's modern Hitman trilogy (2016 through 2021). Common observations: 007 First Light is more linear than Hitman's sandbox-style hubs; the social stealth system is recognizably a Hitman descendant; the combat layer is more developed than Hitman's; gadgets feel similar to Hitman gadgets in functionality but more Bond-themed in presentation; the campaign's narrative is more linear and more cinematic. IO Interactive's own framing has been that 007 First Light is purpose-built for Bond rather than a Hitman-with-Bond-paint reskin.

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3537 Awards Coverage

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3739 As of launch day (May 27, 2026), no major year-end awards have been issued. Coverage that uses Game of the Year language is anticipating future awards rather than reporting them.

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3941 Sequel and Future Publishing

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4143 The campaign closes with the franchise’s traditional "James Bond will return" title card, and a follow-up has since been publicly acknowledged. Shortly after launch, Amazon (which acquired the James Bond film and media rights in 2025) confirmed that future James Bond games will be published by Amazon MGM and Amazon Game Studios.

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4345 IO Interactive self-published 007 First Light because its development deal predated the Amazon rights acquisition, so Amazon did not hold the full rights to this specific game. For any future Bond games, publishing duties are expected to move to Amazon while IO Interactive is widely expected to remain the developer. Amazon’s public statement stressed that it was too early to discuss future projects and that more about 007 First Light itself would be shared in the near future. No details about a sequel’s content, platforms, or release window have been announced.

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4547 On the storefront side, 007 First Light was reported to be the best-selling game on the United States PlayStation Store during its launch month.

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4749 Related Articles

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4951 StoryCombat SystemStealth and Bluff SystemQ Branch GadgetsMusic and Soundtrack

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