Amazon takes over James Bond games: is there a risk of the next flop?

After the commercial success of the spy game 007 First Light, the future of the James Bond series is facing a change. Amazon will take control of the franchise in the future. This causes understandable skepticism among players.

Change of power for James Bond

After the launch of 007 First Light, there are signs of a change in strategy for upcoming video games from the British secret agent. The Danish development studio IO Interactive published the current title on its own initiative. In the future, however, Amazon will take control of the brand and plans to completely centrally control the development and distribution of upcoming offshoots. The background to this approach lies in the company’s recent history.

Amazon acquired venerable film studio MGM in 2021 for $8.45 billion and later secured full creative control of the James Bond franchise. However, the Danish developer, who made a name for himself with the stealth series Hitman, had already concluded the contract for the current game before the takeover.

Concern about future quality

As Jeff Gattis, General Manager at Amazon Games, said in an interview with Polygon explained, you do not have full rights to the current title. According to Gattis, future sequels will be implemented by MGM and theoretically by Amazon Game Studios. IO Interactive had actually expressed the desire to create a trilogy. This is now in jeopardy. The announcement is causing skepticism among players. Amazon Games has a history of failed projects.

Own developments such as the shooter Crucible, New World or planned online role-playing games in the universe of The Lord of the Rings were stopped prematurely. The company has only been able to achieve success as a pure publisher of titles such as Lost Ark.

Synergies with Prime Video

Taking control is part of a comprehensive strategy. Amazon aims to tie video games and movies more closely together. Gattis emphasized that they wanted to accompany series and films on Prime Video directly with suitable games. The group is already pursuing a similar concept with the Tomb Raider brand, for which a television series is being produced in addition to new games. The secret agent with a license to kill has existed since 1953 and was penned by author Ian Fleming.

Since then, the character has become an integral part of pop culture. Video game adaptations have an equally long tradition. The title GoldenEye 007 for the Nintendo 64 is still considered a classic console shooter. Amazon now has to prove that it can live up to this legacy.