I didn't know I wanted this until now. This nothing teaser trailer gave me goosebumps.

IO's experience with Hitman makes this a pretty obvious fit. Maybe they can actually solve the "secret agent" part of the James Bond video game formula. We've had plenty of solid Bond shooters, but I don't know of one of them that actually made me feel like I was doing spy shit.

Man, it's kinda crazy how much that piece of music still kicks ass. Goes to show how much a good score/theme song matters.

I never personally played Hitman, but have enjoyed watching others, and this seems perfect.

This is very exciting.

Imagining a Bond game where you actually have to do undercover or espionage stuff and not just shoot people the whole time.

Honestly, I'm all for it. Let's see James Bond do some spy shit outside of just shooting everything that moves.

I dunno. Outside of Goldeneye 64, the history of Bond games is . . . not great. Also, I kinda feel like Hitman was the idealized Bond game in a lot of ways. It already has the exotic locations, evil secret societies, crazy gadgets, and goofy/winking sense of humor that you would have in a Bond product. About the only thing that are missing are the car and Agent 47 sleeping with everything that moves, and I think I can probably live without those.

Interesting fact. The basis for the James Bond theme was the theme from an abandoned 50s musical called Good Sign, Bad Sign. Once you hear it, I guarantee you'll never listen to the Bond theme the same way again.

I'm cautiously hopeful. They couldn't have picked a more suitable studio for a Bond game.

This sounds like the right dev to do it. I'm looking forward to it!

This really isn't the case. You need the villains (which Hitman has never really done, trust me long time series fan) and the shootouts and set pieces. Of course I hope this has less of those than other 007 games but if you do it right and with some restraint it can hit huge.

For example, that's stuff that Everything or Nothing really captured about Bond, was the big action drama moments.

For me this game would ideally play similarly to Hitman in ways but actually have a more linear progression and at times its shoot out time for sure. There must be some kind of vehicle moment.

And just like that, I'm suddenly interested in 007 games again. If anyone can do the series justice, I think it's IOI.

Honestly I think it's absurd it's taken this long, but i'm also super glad that it has. What with Hitman legitimately being some of the best stuff in video games right now imo there has never been a better time or studio for this exact thing. Maybe I'll give a shit about a James Bond thing for once.

It’s curious but not especially excited. Movie licenses carry with them a whole bunch of restrictions. Hitman is so much fun because of how creative they can be with it. The people that hold the Bond license probably treat it very seriously.

I'm very excited. The Hitman games are such great fun, especially for their almost puzzle solving aspects. I do hope that they bring over the most powerful weapon from Hitman: expired cans of pasta.

This actually seems like a really great match for something I didn't knew I wanted. And it sounds like IOI have free range with the story which is for the best. Licensed games usually works out the best when they are not tied to a set storyline which they have to adhere to.

Interested in seeing what IOI can come up with when it comes to a brand new James Bond game build from the ground up.

And I'm not even a big James Bond fan but a good spy game from IOI? Heck yeah, I'll check that out.

This is a dream come true to me. It seemed like such an obvious thing to do, but licensed games went away for a while, and now they're mostly ultra-low budget stuff (Spider-Man excluded, of course). The shooting in the new Hitmen is lackluster, but you really shouldn't be doing it. They'll probably put more of a focus on that. I also wonder how much sandbox stuff is going to be in this game, Bond movies are very thrill-ridey. I can't wait to throw a fire extinguisher at Mads Mikkelsen.

I have to imagine IOI will want to distinguish Project 007 from Hitman. They're certain to have heard: "Oh, it's just going to be Hitman reskinned with James Bond!"

Hitman is a social stealth puzzle game - which touches on James Bond, but also isn't. I imagine IOI will make this game a bit more "action-y" and tap to their past like Freedom Fighters or Kayne & Lynch. Will there be some aspects of Hitman in this new 007 game? I'm sure, but I'm betting IOI will have a strong desire to be sure to keep these games distinctive in their own ways.

Hitman was the franchise of the past generation for me and I think 007 inherently has a ton of potential as a video game so I am very excited about this.

That being said, like others have noted there is a lot of clunkiness that is easy to forgive in hitman because of the type of game it is. I think they would have to get rid of those rough edges in a straightforward action game, or try to make it more emergent like the hitman games. I have not played many of IO's previous action-oriented offerings so I wouldn't be sure what to expect if they go that route.

Goldeneye is the only Bond movie I've liked, so the only appeal of this for me is getting the licensed music and hopefully an IOI game of the same quality as the last two Hitmans. Hitmen. Those last two games.

This could be so, so good. Hitman is basically Bond anyway, just with people's labels shifted around.

What if 47 is Blofeld?

We'll see, the last couple of Hitman games finally struck a chord with a larger audience, but i think that was more a stroke of luck and timing rather than due to improvements they made. Those games still play like Hitman, warts and all, and depending on what kind of game this is they're going to have to finally figure out how to build those mechanics.
Kane & Lynch 2 was the last time they did a semi successful action game, if they're staffing up for this hopefully they find the people they need to make it work.

maybe the news that they were going to announce something was in the back of my mind, but literally yesterday I was thinking, man IO could make a great Bond game. and I think what really has me excited by the prospect is that, I wasn't thinking that because I'm some Bond fan hard up for a new game, I like Bond fine I guess. but I look at the last two Hitmans and I love them, but I got thinking, it's kind of a shame that, with a few exceptions, the objective, by definition has to be "murder somebody" and there's room for a whole lot more in the cloak and dagger space if you aren't bound by the game being called Hitman.

Anyway there are obviously more differences than that that between Bond and 47, James Bond almost never clonks a janitor on the head to steal his pants for one thing, and it's probably naïve to say, oh the Hitman studio's new game is going to just be just like Hitman. but I'm excited to see what a team with an established great grasp on infiltration and intrigue in games does with a property that brings with it different set of rules and tools than their usual fare, and I'm excited for a take on James Bond that, given the pedigree, will hopefully emphasize the espionage elements of a franchise that usually gets, more or less the action shooter treatment.

Also, I hope against hope they make it a 60's period piece.

Hopefully it would keep IO's mostly M-rated practise. I mean ideally it'd be 2016's Hitman with seducation and fucking, right?

@therealturk: There have been a bunch of decent Bond games other than Goldeneye. For example one Jeffrey Gerstmann (you may have heard of him) gave Nightfire a respectable 7.9. He also gave Everything or Nothing an 8.8 and said it might be the best Bond game. I will personally say that Bloodstone was a perfectly serviceable game and there have been others. Goldeneye transcended just being a good to very good licensed game, but Bond has been done well before.

@jeremyf Licensed games these days fall into one of two categories. The cheap cash in still exists, to be sure, but there's also plenty of polished AAA stuff. It's weird to call out Spider-Man but not mention Batman, considering the Arkham series, but there's also Marvel's Avengers (not a good game but definitely not a cheap one) and Alien Isolation, Dragonball Z fighter and Injustice, Shadow of Mordor etc...etc... There have been lots of AAA licensed games this last generation.

In terms of this particular game...I'm optimistic but it really depends what direction they go with the license and of course how it comes together. I actually don't want James Bond Hitman, but I think with a couple tweaks (less absurdity, maybe a social engine that allows you to talk to NPCs more and be suave and clever) it could definitely work well. Of course it also depends on who is playing Bond and whether IO can do a semi-serious story to carry the game, but it's certainly an idea with promise.

This is awesome! Couldn't pick a better studio for a Bond game if I tried. Will we finally get a game to dethrone Goldeneye for best Bond game?

I'm very, very excited about this. IOI is the perfect dev for this. HITMAN is of course amazing, and several facets of the stealth gameplay will obviously translate well into a spy game. The dry, dark sense of humor they have will work well for Bond quips as well.

From a character standpoint, few Bond games or even movies have really let Bond be that true to Fleming's version, which is far more of a calculating spy than the more "exciting" guns-blazing action hero. This game appears like it will be some sort of origin story that could very well adhere to book Bond and play things less bombastic, which would suit IOI much better than trying to brute force in driving bits and whatnot. "Training scenarios" or straight-up missions could really take advantage of their dynamic, large open worlds.

There's a ton of potential here. I can't wait to hear more about it. As sad as I'll be to have HITMAN seemingly taking a slight hiatus after 3, this is as good of a next project as I could possibly hope for.

This is really exciting. It's one of those ideas I would have never thought about, but the second I heard it I shouted "Yes, of course!" There's so much potential on paper. Who knows if they will do this, but just to use Hitman as a template:

• Travel the world and explore several large set pieces. (i.e. Russia, Madagascar, Scotland, China, Korea, the United States, random evil island lair, the Moon)
• Trying to achieve objectives in those locations. (i.e. Infiltrate a secret base, meet up with a double agent, plant explosives, stop the doomsday plan, win a lot of money via gambling)
• Have various tools to take out henchmen or help break into a place (i.e. exploding pen, laser watches, cool sunglasses, shotguns filled with rock salt)

There's so much canon, even if you were to stick with the movies there's so much you could pull from. Hopefully they have some free reign to tell their own story and they can pull things when it makes sense.

What a perfect match of license and studio. Honestly surprised the rights holders for Bond (let alone any franchise) would be so competent in picking a developer.

On the one hand, really excited for this: could be great. On the other hand, I think "aw yeah, it could be like Hitman but with...set pieces...and shootouts...and driving vehicles....." and realize that maybe this is a design challenge not worth solving. Maybe Hitman is already better than a Bond came could ever be.

I hope this isn't tied to a new movie.

Oh wow. Saw this on YouTube rec and didn't give a fuck. IO though, eh? Now I give a fuck. Mostly bc I'm curious as to how they could make an interesting Bond game.

I enjoyed the Brosnan games well enough, and I/O certainly have the Bond style down. I'm going to be honest, I do not enjoy the new Hitman games. The levels are too big and sprawling and I much prefered the more containers puzzle boxes of Blood money.

Absolution wasn't a bad game but the writing was atrocious and the gameplay was an ill fit for Hitman. I think a more linear design could work for Bond, but I wonder how the fans would react.

@therealturk: Well you’ve just changed my world view with that fact about the origins of the Bond theme.

I'm excited for this. The James Bond games post-Goldeneye (N64) have been mediocre, except for maybe 1 or 2 of them. I'm hoping this new game will turn this around for them. I'll buy it on day one if this is James Bond in a game very similar to Hitman 2016, but with 007 gear/story/missions/music.