James Bond Videogame '007 First Light' Sells 3M Copies, Earns $150M

The new James Bond-themed videogame 007 First Light had a budget of 1.3 billion Danish krone — a little more than USD $202 million, reports IGN, citing a report from Denmark's public service broadcaster. "Denmark's TV 2 said that makes 007 First Light the most expensive entertainment product in the country's history" — and the game "still has some way to go before breaking even." 007 First Light is estimated to have sold 2.2 million copies, generating $150 million in revenue... [Saturday IGM reported sales had jumped to 3 million copies.] The only official sales data we have comes from developer IO Interactive, which said that 007 First Light had become the fastest-selling game in the company's history, shifting 1.5 million copies in its first 24 hours... The impressive sales milestone was achieved without the aid of the Nintendo Switch 2 version, which is due out this summer. The James Bond adventure is also the highest rated IOI game ever, with an 87 on Metacritic...

The developer has said it wants to make a trilogy of James Bond games.
Game-tracking company Alinea Analytics tweeted their estimates that 55.1% of sales were on PS5, 33.1% on Steam, and 11.8% on Xbox (Xbox console, Windows, and cloud combined).

And Polygon reports that new downloadable game content was announced Friday.

GOG

[RitchCraft]

Let me know when GOG has the title to offer.

$150 million in revenue

[innocent_white_lamb]

The headline number here is $150 million but that isn't what it's being presented as.

I assume that by "revenue" they mean gross sales revenue.

So after deducting costs (commissions and profit margins for the retailers average between 30% and 50%, apparently) the remaining amount is likely in the area of $75 to $85 million to the company.

advert

[SumDog]

This feels like a gaming advert disgusted as news story.

Re:

[korgitser]

There's some other kind out there?

Bond. Jimmy 'Bail' Bond.

[geekmux]

This feels like a gaming advert disgusted as news story.

Really? Because other than knowing how fast they sold it, we essentially know nothing of the game itself after reading TFS. Other than someone is apparently dealing with their First Light.

According to AI who told me all about ol' Jimmy 'Bail' Bond, we're not sure if that's referring to his first Bud Light or first Coors Light. Apparently it depends on what Johnny 'Q' Walker has on tap..

Not an ad

[EditorDavid]

I was surprised they were making new James Bond-themed games. IGN's newer article [ign.com] says it's surpassed sales expectations, and it's getting unusually good reviews:

The James Bond adventure is also the highest rated IOI game ever, with an 87 on Metacritic. IGN’s 007 First Light review returned 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.”

With all the interest in the original Goldeneye: Open Source game (and the James Bond franchise in general), I thought it was worth a story on Slashdot about the new game. (Ironically, I left out any mention of all the positive reviews because I didn't want Slashdot's story to sound...too much like an ad.)

Re: Not an ad

[SeeKay]

Thanks. I was one of the people that bought the game on opening weekend.. and I appreciated your article

Re: Still in to hole

[LordofWinterfell]

Curious how much of that was licensing James Bond

Worst 007 Game Ever

[Bahbus]

It doesn't look like a 007 game. It doesn't play like a 007 game. It looks like GTA6 and plays like a hybrid of the Splinter Cell and Assassin's Creed series.

Re:

[ffkom]

I don't know what you expect a "007 game" to look like, but to me "First Light" looks pretty good and on-topic. As soon as not-industry-sponsored reviews confirm this to be as good as it looks, I'll buy a copy (on a physical disk, of course). (Also, I like GTA5 and many of the older AC games, so your comparison does not indicate anything negative to me.)

Re:

[innocent_white_lamb]

What do you gain by purchasing a physical disk if playing the game requires a connection to the publisher's server?

Is there something I'm not seeing here?

Re:

[ffkom]

The Xbox version may require a once-off download of some "day 1 patch", but will run thereafter without Internet connection, which is important to me, as I do run the Xbox in places without Internet connection, and also disconnect it even if Internet was available, because nothing sucks more than wanting to play for 30 minutes only to be annoyed by "oh there is an update which you have to download right now". Also, should "First Light" turn out not to be for me, the physical media is easy to sell second han

Re:

[Bahbus]

Also, I like GTA5 and many of the older AC games, so your comparison does not indicate anything negative to me.

So do I. But I don't want a reskin of the same games with a different story and prettier graphics.