After completing Hitman: World of Assassination, IO Interactive (IOI) is moving on to the next logical step: a James Bond game. Yet the company is also heading in an unexpected direction, as it stated today that it is developing an online fantasy RPG. “This concept — that a varied collection of people with varying abilities and strengths may collaborate and become greater than the sum of their parts — is what motivates us,” the studio stated in a blog post.
Of course, IOI didn’t reveal much about the initiative, which it characterises as “only the beginning of our adventure into this new universe we are creating.” It did, however, acknowledge that recollections of tabletop fantasy RPGs affected the choice. “From the Fighting Fantasy novels, challenging you to select your own path against wizards, reptiles, and thief kings. To the friendship, anguish, and joy found around the tables. For others, it meant being a game master: part storyteller, part AI opponent, part guide, and part villain. It meant creativity, imagination, developing a world together, and a common aim of producing a terrific gaming experience for everyone at that table.”
According to the independent firm, the game will be a fresh IP that will “entertain gamers and grow for many years to come.” It claims that all of its studios, including those in Copenhagen, Malmö, and Barcelona, would collaborate on the project.
The RPG will be developed alongside IOI’s next James Bond game, called “Project 007,” on which it is collaborating with licence holders MGM and Eon Productions. It seems to be a logical match for the company, as it could take the popular core Hitman gameplay, develop a new plot with new areas, and cover it with a James Bond coat of paint to make a game that many people would like playing. (It might tweak its recipe even more, but a fundamental shift isn’t required.) IOI has said that the title will be its own Bond narrative, without the usage of any existing Bond actors’ likenesses; the studio has even stated that it may become another espionage trilogy. There is no set release date for the title.
