Gamereactor interviewed two key members from IO Interactive Barcelona at Spain's Gamelab 2023 event, and they got a few tidbits on the studio's two biggest upcoming games: Project 007 and Project Fantasy.
About Project 007, Senior Technical Executive Producer Cris Vega said:
007 is under development, and it's looking very cool. It's going to tell the story of the first Bond and how he becomes the secret agent that he is, but that's what we can comment on.
Project 007 was unveiled in November 2020 with scant information. Over the years, we learned that it won't be an adaptation of any of the James Bond movies produced by MGM. Job listings also made it clear it'll be a third-person action game featuring sandbox levels and cutting-edge AI, although that wasn't at all surprising coming from the studio that makes HITMAN.
Gamereactor also got a couple of comments about IO Interactive's other major upcoming game, Project Fantasy. Officially announced a few months ago, it was formerly known as Project Dragon when rumors suggested it could be an Xbox exclusive. On that note, Lead Core Engine Programmer Alvaro Fernandez couldn't really comment:
This is not our domain. I don't think any word came out about any specifics about this, so we cannot comment on it.
Senior Technical Executive Producer Cris Vega added that Project Fantasy may still be far from release.
Yeah, it's an online multiplayer RPG and likely will be like any other IOI game, probably will be on console and PC, but nothing is confirmed. It's still some years until it will release.
IO Interactive has seen massive expansion to accommodate its ambitious roadmap now that it has put HITMAN on hiatus. In 2023 alone, they opened two offices, one in Istanbul and another in Brighton, UK. The full headcount of IOI has surpassed 300 employees and the goal is to continue growing to around 400 employees, though none of the individual offices (which also include Copenhagen and Malmö) are expected to get larger than 100-150 developers.
As a reminder, IO Interactive was one of the studios listed by Microsoft's internal documents to be eyed for a potential future acquisition target.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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