IO Interactive will no longer self-publish future James Bond games, which will instead be published by MGM and Amazon Game Studios.
IO Interactive developed and self-published 007: First Light, which launched on May 27 and sold over 1.5 million copies within 24 hours.
Amazon Game Studios general manager Jeff Gattis told Polygon that the company’s stake in future Bond games stems from its 2022, $8.45 billion acquisition of IP owner MGM.
“We did not [make First Light],” said Gattis. “We do have a stake in it because we now own the IP, but that IP acquisition happened after the First Light IO deal was already done.”
Gattis also noted that an IP like Bond supports Amazon’s broader transmedia strategy across video games, film, and television.
“We think that’s a real opportunity for us to create IP that extends – or expands upon – TV shows and movies,” he said. “There’ll be a Tomb Raider TV show on Prime Video that’ll go alongside the games.
“There are a lot of things we have in the works on new games that’ll relate to Prime Video IP. This is where we’ve made some bets on first-party content.”
The gaming division has recently faced challenges, including the reported cancellation of its Lord of the Rings MMO in May.
While general manager Jeff Gattis would not confirm or deny the cancellation, he stated Amazon is developing a “new game experience” within the LOTR universe.
The firm shut down Glowmade’s online multiplayer game King of Meat, citing it had “not found the audience [it] hoped for.”
In January, Amazon announced the cancellation of its MMO New World: Aeternum, with servers scheduled to go offline on January 31, 2027.
Development of this game paused in October 2025 as part of broader reductions to Amazon’s infrastructure affecting 14,000 jobs.
