Hitman studio IO’s James Bond game may not be out until at least 2025

A financial report from IO Interactive suggests its James Bond game, Project 007, may not be released before March 2025.

Earlier this month the Danish studio behind the Hitman series published its annual report for the financial year ended on March 31, 2022.

As spotted by Twitter user DarkDetective, one part of the report suggested that while IO expects to make revenue of 450-500 million Krone ($60-67 million) in the current financial year ending in March 2023, it predicts this to drop for the following two financial years due to a lack of new releases.

“We had a couple of years with solid revenue and profits, due to launch of a title,” the report says, referring to Hitman 3.

However, it then warns: “There is a risk the next couple of calendar years, the EBITDA and profits will drop. This is due to long production phases ahead, before the next releases hit the market.

“More precisely, [FY 2024] and [FY 2025] estimates show a significant decrease.”

The statement implies, then, that there will be no new games released until after the financial year ending March 31, 2025, including its James Bond game.

IO’s Project 007 was announced via a short CGI trailer in November 2020, which was quickly followed by a number of job listings on the studio’s website seeking “elite talent” to join the development team.

Studio head Hakan Abrak stated back in January 2021 that the game won’t lean on previous Bond movies or actors, and that IO instead intends to build a James Bond universe from scratch.

Abrak also confirmed last year that IO is also working on other projects besides Project 007. One of these is believed to be a “dragon-themed” game that’s said to be an Xbox exclusive, but this too is likely to be a number of years away going by IO’s financial report.

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Meanwhile, Hitman 3 continues to be supported with new content, most of which is free. Most notable is the game’s upcoming Freelancer mode, which was delayed from its previously scheduled spring launch window to the second half of 2022.

Announced in January, Freelancer is a single-player mode featuring roguelike elements, strategic planning and a customisable safehouse. It’s not yet been confirmed whether this too will be a free update, or whether it will be paid due to its apparent scale.