The arrival of 007 First Light isn’t just exciting because James Bond is back. It’s been 15 years since Bloodstone launched on Nintendo DS, the last time a Bond game got a handheld release. IO Interactive resurrects the spy’s portable outings on Nintendo Switch 2 next year, and I asked senior producer Theuns Smit about making it happen.
Let’s get one thing out of the way: you’re probably worried about last week’s State of Play, performance-wise. While the PS5 Pro shown is an alpha build, the frame drops are the stuff of social media canon fodder right now. In my 007 First Light preview, I saw the game running on a similar build, and it performed much better. The Nintendo Switch 2 is young, but it isn’t stopping IO Interactive from delivering an on-par experience, Smit relays to me.
“We’re bringing it to [Nintendo] Switch as we’re bringing it to any other platforms and experience, at [a] quality [that] we want players to have the best that they can out of it,” he expresses. Running on the studio’s proprietary Glacier engine, we can already get a taste of how 007 First Light could run by looking at Hitman: World of Assassination. The initial launch build suffered some framerate issues, which you can read about in our review. Subsequent patches have improved it greatly, though.
Running it docked, I’ve encountered some minor issues, but handheld mode is notably smoother. But no matter which way you decide to play Bond’s next adventure, Smit is looking forward to bringing more fans into the series – and the Switch 2 is key to this. “We’re just excited that we get to broaden the audience a bit and give more people a chance to be Bond, [and] how they want to be Bond,” he adds.
We’ll likely get Nintendo Switch 2-focused gameplay in a future Nintendo Direct in the run-up to the 007 First Light release date. Maybe it’ll pop up in this month’s rumored Direct, but that might be too soon after PlayStation’s showcase. Either way, 007 First Light pre-orders are already live for the currently announced platforms.
However, I also asked Smit about the game’s handheld PC status and whether it could get Steam Deck support. He comments on it, saying that ” you know, the future might bring other opportunities, but right now, we’re laser-focused on bringing it to the console. So we’ll see.”
If that isn’t Bond news for you, then check out the rest of my interview, as I dive into casting Patrick Gibson and the unlikely influences inspiring the game.
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