- IO Interactive says 007 First Light's upcoming story expansion is "awesome"
- The principal level designer Mattias Engström says fans are "starting to expect" post-launch content from IO Interactive games
- Lead environment artist Hilde Sunde says the positive reception has "been amazing"
IO Interactive has teased 007 First Light's upcoming post-launch content following the game's "unreal" reception.
Speaking with TechRadar Gaming at Summer Game Fest 2026 following the announcement of a brand-new story expansion, principal level designer Mattias Engström and lead environment artist Hilde Sunde discussed working on IO games long after their release, such as Hitman 3 and, in this case, First Light.
According to Engström, getting to create new content for players is "very cool because it's very rewarding for our players," and is something IO is now well known for, unlike other studios that ship their game with no further content updates.
"It doesn't just stop," he said, "it's not the one and done, right? So, adding more content for our fans is very cool. I think it's also something you're starting to expect from IOI, right?"
"It's kind of in our DNA to do that type of stuff and also keeping the players happy," Sunde added. "In Bond, we also have a lot of replayability. So, if you play through it one time, you could do it very differently the next time and try different ways and play it again."
"Also, IO is a pretty big company," continued Engström. "We can have people moving around and going to other projects, and some people who may not have worked on Bond before can get going and bring in fresh new ideas and whatnot."
Engström went on to tease the post-launch content, saying it will be "awesome" and "we want the players to come back, and we want to create more content."
007 First Light was a success with critics and players alike, selling 1.5 million within its first 24 hours before hitting 2.7 million copies worldwide in its first week across all platforms.
Sunde recalled the emotional response she and the team had when the reviews came in, touching on what it was like to hear the reception after working on First Light for six years out of the game's seven-year development cycle.
"A lot of blood, sweat, and tears have gone into this," the developer said. "We really wanted to nail the Bond fantasy and get everything right, and right up until release, when you have worked on a game for that long ride, and you're gonna ship something that is very dear to I think [Bond] fans, you really want to get it right.
"And then when we got the reviews in, there people were crying, we were hugging each other, we were like it was unreal. I was in shock. I'm still in shock. I mean, I knew the game was good, but you're not prepared for it. It just feels so good for everybody who has worked so hard on this at IOI and all the other people we have collaborated with on this.
"It's just been amazing. I still don't believe it. I'm pitching my arm."
007 First Light is out now on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, and PC. A Nintendo Switch 2 version is slated to launch sometime this year.
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