this post was submitted on 07 Jun 2026
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[–] echodot@feddit.uk 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

They've sold 3 million units and they're not profitable yet? They've made a new hitman map, how has it cost more than $3 million for them to make that

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago (3 children)

If you think someone can build a game like this for $3 million then you are just delusional

[–] chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago (1 children)

Indie Devs: Allow us to introduce ourselves

[–] Summzashi@lemmy.world 1 points 6 minutes ago

Licensing cost of one of the biggest and most recognizable franchises in the world: allow us to introduce ourselves.

Like the person you responded to said: delusional.

[–] chronicledmonocle@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

Indie Devs: Allow us to introduce ourselves

[–] jmet_b@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago (2 children)

They sold 3 million copies, not $3 million...At $70 for the base game, not including collectors edition premiums, that's north of $200 million in sales revenue.

[–] bambancico@piefed.social 2 points 3 hours ago

Uhm, for taxes and all of that, they might need 4 million sold to break even, assuming it did cost a bit more than 200 million.

By the corpo-speech, my guess is that the game cost was closer to 300 million, and that they’d need to sell pretty much 4.5 million to break even.

For investors to be happy, having it been 7 years, 7% annual return on investment (just as the S&P), early investors would expect ~50% ROI. Assuming they had half the cash, and most of the investment going on at the end of development, let’s say 30% ROI is expected on average. That would be closer to 6.5million (at full price).

I am guessing they are hoping for a very long cycle, just like Hitman, and them counting on a second and third game. It will be on sale for sure at some point, so they might need it to be closer to 8-9 million.

Getting half-way there in a couple of weeks is pretty good.

I did pull these numbers out of my ass tho.

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 2 points 3 hours ago

This is what the comment above me said:

They’ve made a new hitman map, how has it cost more than $3 million for them to make that

See the dollar sign

[–] Longmactoppedup@aussie.zone 2 points 10 hours ago

Probably not going to buy it. But.. That club scene with Chase and Status <3

[–] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 hours ago

And it will be the last if what I'm hearing out of Amazon MGM's licensing is true

[–] RightHandOfIkaros@lemmy.world 12 points 20 hours ago

"Very confident it will be profitable"

Translation: We are not profitable yet and the shareholders are unhappy.

[–] Switorik@sh.itjust.works 56 points 1 day ago (4 children)

It's a 15 hour long $70 game with denuvo. I'll pass.

[–] Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 1 points 4 hours ago

Better 15 hours of fun than 70 dragged hours of fun mixed with time-stretchers. But denuvo? yes, I'll pass too and take the cracked one maybe.

[–] littleomid@feddit.org 11 points 21 hours ago (2 children)

Those 15 hours are really cool though.

In a fight today I ran out of ammo, threw my pistol at a guy’s head, rushed him and banged his head against a table, then grabbed a mug of coffee and threw it at another guy, disarmed him and kicked his SMG up to my hands, turning 180 degrees and shooting the last two remaining baddies, all in span of about four seconds.

This is not scripted, and everything requires an input. It was one of the most cinematic action sequences I’ve ever played.

The game does have pacing issues though, and there are lots of filler scenes, but the action is immaculate.

[–] DamienGramatacus@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago

I love Hitman and everything I've heard about this sounds really cool.

[–] Switorik@sh.itjust.works 5 points 20 hours ago

I'm glad you had a good moment. Thanks for sharing.

[–] username_1@discuss.tchncs.de 42 points 1 day ago (1 children)

In a few years it would be a $20 25 hour long game without DRM. Worth waiting -- they say the game is unexpectedly nice.

[–] kuhli@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Honestly probably the best 007 game. Hope you enjoy if you get around to it!

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

If you grew up with GoldenEye, you know it's the best 007 game.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago

Yeah, I've got Indiana Jones and the Great Circle on my sale list to watch out for due to price too. I love that so many franchises are making video games that are just playable movies, but the cost is a tad insane. In time it'll hit my price point, and until then, I've got plenty to play.

[–] slaacaa@lemmy.world 19 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Developer IO Interactive is celebrating after 007 First Light sold 3 million copies in less than two weeks.

IOI had announced 2.7 million sales in a week, but in an interview with IGN's Simon Cardy in Los Angeles yesterday, CEO Hakan Abrak said the James Bond adventure game is now up to 3 million, having gone on sale on May 26. “I'm feeling absolutely amazing,” Abrak said when asked how he felt about the launch of 007 First Light. Its success comes without the help of a Nintendo Switch 2 version, which is expected to arrive later this summer.

Not only has 007 First Light launched to strong sales, but it’s critically acclaimed. It has 88 on Metacritic, with IGN’s 007 First Light review returning a 9/10. We said: “Demonstrably obsessed with bringing the Bond fantasy to life in a way no one has ever managed before, 007 First Light is the best Bond game I’ve ever played.”

Abrak told us that he made a speech during a town hall meeting five minutes before the reviews went live, telling staff that the most important thing is “not those people telling us whether we're worthy of this, it’s how we feel about this… just in case things were s**t!”

When the positive review scores came flooding in, Abrak said he cried. “It was an extremely emotional moment. Like almost seven years. I'm just happy because the team is 10 feet tall.”

007 First Light is the Danish studio’s fastest-selling game, which means it’s sold faster than any Hitman game it’s worked on. “By all measures it’s freaking successful,” Abrak said, confirming 007 First Light is beating the company’s internal expectations. “It's just going and it's fantastic,” he added.

The big question now is whether 007 First Light will turn a profit for IOI. Recent reports from the Danish press claimed the game cost 1.3 billion Danish krone (approx. $200 million) to develop over the course of seven years. That would make it the most expensive entertainment product in the country's history.

But Abrak cast doubt on the accuracy of the $200 million figure as a straightforward budget cost, insisting it includes a number of costs associated with the development and release of the game.

“We give big fat bonuses to our teams if they do hit a few goals,” Abrak said. “There's some bonuses in there to be paid out in the future. There's marketing in there and whatnot. So it's not the actual cost of the product. But we'll come up with all that. It's by far the most expensive one, but it's not like for the game itself, not $200 million.”

Abrak said that two weeks in, he’s now “very confident” 007 First Light will be profitable for IOI. “There's some royalty models and whatnot around this, but we are well above our forecasts at this point,” he added. And of course there’s plenty more to come with the game. IOI just outlined 007 First Light’s first year of content, and it sounds like the developer will use the post-launch model established with its successful Hitman World of Assassination trilogy to keep Bond relevant for some time. “I think this is going to be a very special journey," Abrak enthused.

All eyes are now on a sequel, which 007 First Light clearly sets up. But confusing statements coming out of James Bond rights holder Amazon over the publishing of future titles (IOI self-published 007 First Light) has called the planned trilogy of games into question.

Abrak, though, painted a rosy picture of IOI’s relationship with Amazon, and said the two companies will get together to issue a joint statement on what happens next soon enough.

“We have a great relationship with Prime Video, where this licence collaboration is residing,” Abrak said. “They're here today and we're just high fiving and having a good time. There will be information about this in the future. But for now it's just First Light 007 and just enjoying what's happening right now.”

Assuming IOI does get to make a sequel, it sounds like it will be cheaper to develop and launch because the developer will be able to lean on the work it's already done for 007 First Light. Abrak said the cost associated with each World of Assassination title came down, and he’d expect the same with future James Bond games.

“The first World of Assassination (2016’s Hitman) cost around $78 million. And the second one took two-and-a half years versus the four-and-a-half years, five years, and cost $48 million. And the third one took 20 months, and it cost us $19 million. And that was the highest-rated one," Abrak explained.

“So the way we develop games is like, we're not like some other developers, who are like, ‘Oh, we have a hit, so it must cost us double the next one. It must be much more ambitious.’ Ambition is not necessarily that it's more expensive. Ambition is, the platform you build, how do you keep giving amazing experiences from that and how do you iterate on a sequel from that in a smart way, where it's retroactively maybe lifting the first one as well, like we did with World of Assassination? Some of this approach to concept and ambition, one could think could be applied to Bond as well.”

There's no confusion about the future of the franchise.

Amazon said they're taking control of it and they're going coordinate releases to coincide with Bond in other media.

They'll hire a bunch of vibe coders, try to copy First Light, and launch a buggy pile of crap alongside a movie.

[–] FarceOfWill@infosec.pub 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

“We give big fat bonuses to our teams if they do hit a few goals,” Abrak said.

Didnt they fire the team?!

[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 16 points 1 day ago

Layoffs after a launch are normal. Studios don't need the same set of employees to support a game after launch, or to start on a new one as they do to finish a release. There is a lot of turnover in the industry because of it. Not every position is needed from beginning to end over several years.

Not everyone working on games are direct employees either, some will be contract. And bonuses can still be paid out after people are no longer actively needed if that was part of the pay structure they had. We don't know exactly how all of that was setup at IOI.