007 First Light Budget Reportedly More Than $200 Million

Developer IO Interactive's 007 First Light reportedly had a budget of more than $200 million and took seven years to make.

Behind-the-scenes details on the Denmark-based studio's latest were shared in a report by the Danish Broadcasting Corporation. According to the outlet, the James Bond video game was especially expensive to bring to life at 1.3 billion Danish krone (a little more than USD $202 million) to develop.

According to reporting from Denmark's TV 2, that makes 007 First Light the most expensive entertainment product in the country's history. IO had no comment to share regarding its reported budget when contacted by IGN.

It's worth putting that $200 million figure into context. Most of the triple-A video game budgets that make headlines do so for being in the hundreds of millions of dollars range. Bungie's recently released extraction shooter Marathon reportedly had a budget of over $250 million, for example. Concord's initial development deal was around $200 million, according to a report by Kotaku. In 2023, documents submitted as part of the Xbox Federal Trade Commission case accidentally revealed The Last of Us: Part II and Horizon Forbidden West each cost more than $200 million to develop. So, in that context, 007's $200 million seems par for the course.

Some games have astronomical budgets much bigger than 007's. For example, last year the development budgets of the Call of Duty games were revealed for the first time after a court document confirmed Activision pumped $700 million into Black Ops Cold War alone, although that was over the shooter's life cycle. At the top of the tree is GTA 6, which may well be the most expensive video game ever made; parent company Take-Two is estimated to have spent $1 billion to $1.5 billion so far on its development.

As for IO's development timeline for the new James Bond game, we already know the project was officially unveiled back in late 2020. If the Danish Broadcasting Corporation's reporting is accurate, it would mean the Hitman studio had entered some form of development on the project around one year before its reveal.

IO launched 007 First Light for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X and S last week, May 27. It's unclear exactly what numbers the studio would need to hit to recoup its costs or how that reported $200 million budget breaks down, but we do know that it's already off to a strong start.

On May 29, just two days after its launch, IO announced the game had already managed to become its fastest-selling game ever at 1.5 million copies sold in just 24 hours. According to Alinea Analytics head of market analysis Rhys Elliot, Valve's Steam platform accounted for 500,000 copies from that number, generating about $25 million in revenue alone.

The success of 007 First Light all arrives without the help of a Nintendo Switch 2 version, which is expected to arrive later this summer. Should IO's third-person adventure game prove successful enough, it could potentially spawn a sequel, though details on that front have not been officially mentioned quite yet.

IGN called 007 First Light "amazing" in our 9/10 review. 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."

Our 007 First Light Guide has all the Essential Tips and Tricks you need to survive your first assignments, plus 6 Tips for Mastering Stealth so you can stay out of sight. There are plenty of achievements to unlock and collectibles to get your hands on, so check our guide to All Collectible Locations to make sure you don’t miss out. For a helping hand with your missions, head to our in-progress Walkthrough, and our guide to all the Safe Combinations and Keypad Codes.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer with IGN. He's best known for his work at sites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be sure to give him a follow on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).

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New Warhammer 40,000 Cinematic Stuns Fans With Official Look at the Emperor

Games Workshop just threw a grenade at the Warhammer 40,000 community with a stunning cinematic that shows the Emperor of the Imperium sitting on the Golden Throne — the first official look at the Master of Mankind in the current setting for years.

The Warhammer 40,000 setting is built upon a galaxy-shaking civil war that took place 10,000 years earlier, called the Horus Heresy. It ended with the Emperor finally defeating his Chaos-fueled Primarch son, Horus Lupercal, and save the Imperium of Man from destruction, but at a terrible cost: the near-death Master of Mankind was interred upon the Golden Throne as a carrion Emperor sustained by the daily sacrifice of thousands of psykers.

The iconic art of the God-Emperor by John Blanche, below, is seared into every Warhammer 40,000 lore fan’s mind. This is how the Emperor looks in the 41st millennium: grim, dark, and barely there at all.

But is this actually how the Emperor looks? We rarely see official art of the Emperor in the current setting from Games Workshop, and he’s never been depicted in an official cinematic before. Well, over the weekend, in a new trailer confirming a June 20, 2026 release date for the 11th Edition of Warhammer 40,000, that all changed.

The stunning new Warhammer 40,000 cinematic sets up the grim darkness of the far future, depicting a pilgrim’s journey from Golden Throne on Terra (called Earth in the trailer) to inevitable death on some war-torn battlefield. Throughout, we see the Emperor actually sat on the Golden Throne in various forms, or, perhaps more accurately, three faces of the Emperor: the Emperor in all his glory, the Emperor being sucked dry as he sustains Humanity even now, and the Emperor as little more than a skeleton.

These brief looks at the Emperor flash on screen, so it’s hard to make them out initially. I went through the trailer frame by frame and picked out the best shots of the Big E so you can see him for yourself in the slideshow, below.

We see the Emperor riddled with wires that resemble intestines, as a husk of a man with mere shreds of humanity left. One image shows the Emperor with flesh on his face, teeth in his skill, and an eyeball that appears to be looking directly at us, the viewer. He almost… almost… looks alive.

It’s important to note that, with pretty much everything Warhammer 40,000, there is an unreliable narrator element to this cinematic. While these are official images of the Emperor, are we simply seeing what the Emperor wants us to see? Are we seeing manifestations of the Emperor’s will? Are we even seeing the Emperor here at all? Is it all just propaganda?

In Era of Ruin, a Horus Heresy book released last year, it is suggested that the image of the God-Emperor we see in John Blanche’s art and, ergo, the images of the Carrion Emperor we see in this cinematic, are misleading. Some fans believe the book describes a very early piece of Warhammer 40,000 art found within the 1987 Rogue Trader rulebook (the 1st Edition of the Warhammer 40,000 core rulebook), which shows the Emperor in a different light, complete with blood bag, mist, wires that resemble intestines, and Custodes with black helms. That is to say, the actual Emperor is hidden behind the Emperor we see sat on what we think of as the Golden Throne, and he looks like this:

An accompanying post on the Warhammer Community website reaffirms the idea that the Emperor is everything and nothing all at once.

“The exact health and fate of the Emperor by the 41st Millennium is both vague and hotly debated,” Games Workshop said. “Is he alive? A god? Or just a rotting corpse on a throne acting as the bulb for a glorified psychic lighthouse? The trailer artfully skirts this problem by showing all of these possibilities. You’ll just have to decide for yourself.”

There have been rumblings about the Emperor being “alive,” at least in a metaphysical sense, in the current setting, based on various events that have happened either in novels or tabletop books. For example, Ultramaines boss Roboute Guilliman was saved from certain death at the hands of his Primarch brother Mortarion, the Daemon Primarch of the Death Guard Chaos Space Marines, by what most consider to be an intervention from the Emperor himself. Some fans believe Games Workshop might be setting up the Emperor’s dramatic return, however unlikely that feels.

Personally, I don’t think this cinematic is anything other than a spectacular teaser for 11th Edition, and a primer for the Warhammer 40,000 setting itself. I don’t think it suggests anything further, and certainly not the return of the Emperor. In many ways it muddies the waters further. The precise status of the Emperor is one of the biggest and most discussed ongoing mysteries in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and this cinematic is smart in that is doubles down on the idea that this mysery can never be unraveled, as if the Emperor's true status is unknowable. I quite like it like that.

And let’s remember that Games Workshop hasn’t even got round to Roboute Guilliman and his loyalist Primarch brother Lion El'Jonson finally meeting up after the latter returned to the current setting. One step at a time, eh?

Still, the cinematic has certainly got Warhammer 40,000 lore fans talking, and there is much debate about what the images may signify, not just of the Emperor but across the cinematic. From that perspective, it’s mission accomplished.

Image credit: Games Workshop.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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Factorio Set for Its Last Major Update, a Decade After Launch

Factorio is set for its last major update soon, developer Wube Software has announced in a blog post.

The influential strategy game about building and creating automated factories launched on Steam in early access form in February 2016, before launching proper in August 2020. It is a huge hit for Wube, one of those eternal Steam games with addictive gameplay mechanics, complex systems, and near infinite replayability. Factorio, which has seen superb support over the years, is credited with popularising the factory-building and automation genre on PC, and retains an ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ user review rating on Valve’s platform.

"I can’t imagine how different Steam gaming landscape would have been if there was no Factorio," John “Bucky” Buckley, communications director and publishing manager for Palworld developer Pocketpair, said in a post on social media. "Thank you for making an incredible game!"

Managing expectations on the scope of the 2.1 update, Wube said: “Generally, we are happy with the game design of Factorio and Space age. The progression is good, things are mostly well balanced (one or two exceptions), and there isn't anything we feel is majorly missing. That is to say, we didn't go into 2.1 development with grand designs of large new pieces of content or huge features.”

To that end, the 2.1 update will focus on quality-of-life improvements, add some “small” features, polish the game in some areas, and makes improvements to modding. It will not add new planets, enemies, or research trees or resource chains.

Wube will spend the next few weeks in closed beta testing, with an experimental 2.1 release set for the end of June. “Once released, we will have the usual bugfixing, before our summer vacations start in July,” the developer added. “Importantly, we plan to keep 2.1 as experimental over the whole summer (I.E, not mark it stable), so that mod authors will have plenty of time to update.”

Long-term, though, 2.1 signals the end of major updates for Factorio.

“We envision 2.1 as our last major update of Factorio, and we will shift the focus onto long term support,” Wube explained. “So things like bug fixes, platform support/compatibility, modding features, etc. Other than that we feel we've reached a good place to conclude the active gameplay development.”

So, an end of an era for Factorio, but Wube is already working on other projects. Just don’t expect to hear about them for a while (“honestly there will not be anything to share for a long time”).

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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Hot on the Heels of Katsuhiro Harada's Exit From Bandai Namco, the Director of Tekken 7 and 8 Has Left Too

Kohei 'Nakatsu' Ikeda, game director on Tekken 7 and 8, has left Bandai Namco after 20 years at the company.

His exit comes hot on the heels of Tekken legend Katsuhiro Harada’s exit to form a new video game company.

“There were joyful moments, and many difficult ones as well,” Ikeda said in a farewell message posted on social media. “There were times when we celebrated together, and times when I received passionate criticism and encouragement. Yet every one of those moments helped push both myself and the Tekken Project forward.”

Ikeda didn’t say what he plans to do next, but most fans are speculating that he is set to rejoin Harada at his new venture, VS Studio, which has partnered with SNK Corporation.

The Tekken community is now left wondering what’s in store for the fighting game franchise. Just last week Bandai Namco delighted fans by announcing Yujiro Hanma from the Baki manga and anime franchise as the guest character of the Tekken 8 Season 3 Pass, which ends early 2027 with his arrival. But with both Harada and now Ikeda out of Bandai Namco, will fans get a Tekken 9? If so, what might it look like?

Certainly, Tekken fans have had a rough relationship with Bandai Namco in recent years, criticising various aspects of the game and balance changes. Harada has spoken publicly about his difficult relationship with both the Tekken franchise and Bandai Namco, stepping in multiple times on social media to respond to fan concern, including the time he addressed a row over the sale of premium stage DLC.

“Makes me worried about the fate of Tekken 9,” said one concerned fan, responding to Ikeda’s departure. “The franchise might have to take a bit of a break after this game,” another suggested. “This game has definitely been a nightmare for developers AND players.”

Bandai Namco itself has yet to say what’s in store for Tekken beyond Tekken 8 Season 3.

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.

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