007 First Light developer says it's 'not a reskin' of Hitman, it's much more

PlayStation just wrapped up its State of Play dedicated to IO Interactive's 007 First Light, which fans mostly had a very positive reaction to. But some critics have described what they have seen of 007 First Light as a Hitman "reskin," to which the developers of the title, IO Interactive, have now responded.

In a recent interview with GamesRadar, senior licensing producer Theuns Smit explained that 007 First Light is going to be different from the Hitman franchise, and the team behind the project has grown since the announcement of the game, adding a fresh set of eyes and expertise. Additionally, Smit says that while IO Interactive is leaning into its strengths, it has developed over the course of making games for 25 years, 007 First Light is about creating a different experience for gamers that is different from the Hitman games.

What is possibly the biggest difference that can already be spotted between the Hitman games and 007 First Light is that players will be able to step into vehicles with Bond. This isn't possible in the Hitman games. IO Interactive doesn't have a lot of experience in this area of game development, and many of the new developers that joined the studio were dedicated to this area of development.

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"We have a very talented team back home, and our team has expanded ever since we first announced the game," senior licensing producer Theuns Smit tells GamesRadar+. "Obviously, that meant there was even more interest. We were able to bring in amazing fresh talent to bolster what we already have at the studio, and that has been a really big growth moment for us as a studio."

"While still leaning [into] our strengths, [with] the pedigree of 25 years behind us. It comes about the game first. The experience first. If you're looking at Hitman, it's the way it is for a particular reason, because that's the gameplay experience we want to give. For Bond, it's not exactly that. It's not a reskin of that."

"It was absolutely a huge challenge, and also a challenge we didn't take on lightly," franchise art director Rasmus Poulsen told GamesRadar. "We had to bring onto the team specific driving expertise, i.e. people that had experience coding, setting up, tweaking, balancing."

"Because of course it's a balancing act of making a vehicle feel both exciting, credible, and dangerous at the same time as being approachable and fun for a wide audience. So absolutely, that balance is very difficult and indeed a new adventure for us, so something we took very seriously. And I'm pleased to say, I feel [we] have landed in an amazing space."