When is the 007 First Light release date? Way back in 2020, Hitman developer IO Interactive announced 'Project 007', a codenamed James Bond videogame project that, since then, has had very little said about it.
Come June 2, 2025, just five short years later, and totally out of the blue, IO dropped the game's name, game entails.
007 First Light release date estimate
The 007 First Light release date is confirmed for 2026, though no smaller window has been set. Given the usual two-year turnaround of IOI games, discussed below, we think we could see a launch in early 2026.
007 First Light has been in the making since at least 2020, when the first announcement was made. Historically, IOI has also been known to turn new releases around every two years, with just two years between each of the first four Hitman games. Five years, then, seems like plenty of time for the team to be near completion on First Light.
The press release in which the 2026 release date was first spotted doesn't go into any more detail, but given the usual turnaround of IO Interactive games, we could expect First Light to drop in at least the first half of year.
007 First Light trailers
The official announcement trailer, coming just a few days after the game's title was revealed, was shown during PlayStation State of Play on June 4, 2025. In the three-minute long video, we get an incredibly detailed introduction to young Bond, his time in the Navy, and his recruitment into MI6.
007 First Light is clearly a love letter to Bond and Ian Fleming, as all the signs are there – beautiful women, Bond's brash confidence, gadgets, guns, and, of course, a gold Aston Martin DB5. Some 007 fans might be deterred by the schoolboy looks of the young Bond, but this is an origin story after all, so this couldn't be a Bond we've met before.
In contrast, the 007 First Light teaser trailer, first revealed in November 2020, revealed pretty much nothing. Not even showcasing the game's real name, just the placeholder 'Project 007', the video, seen above, shows a bullet loaded into the barrel of a gun. The camera moves through the barrel, following the bullet, before a gunshot sounds over the classic image of us looking down the barrel of the pistol.
Instead of revealing Bond at the end, the codename for the game was shown on a red background, replacing the iconic white.
Now we know that First Light is a James Bond origin story, we can perhaps see that this was hinted at here by the full journey of the bullet, from being loaded into the gun at the top of the clip.
007 First Light gameplay
The release date trailer shows a lot of story and cutscenes, but, while more gameplay is set to be shown this Summer, we can start to gauge some information from the footage.
First off, it looks like 007 First Light uses the same third-person perspective of IOI's Hitman 3, giving players the ability to switch between standard third-person and over-the-shoulder. We can certainly see a lot of Hitman influence here, with a stealth section demonstrated at the 1:30 mark.
We can also see that Bond's gadgets will provide a healthy arsenal. In one clip, the young spy-in-training uses his wristwatch to fire a laser at an enemy, and we can only assume Q is going to provide far more tech than that.
Finally, Bond's iconic DB5 (from the movies, not the books) is a drivable vehicle, as seen in a driving section around the two-minute mark. We can't be completely sure if this is gameplay, as the footage switches between cinematic footage and what looks to be gameplay, but the insinuation is definitely there.
007 First Light bonus rewards
We don't yet know about different editions or pre-orders, but you can already sign up for an IOI to unlock a bonus skin for James and a gold weapon skin.
At the moment, we can't see this on the official IOI website, but we expect it to appear in the 'Rewards and Bonuses' section of your in the near future.
That's all we know about the 007 First Light release date so far, but we'll update you as more is announced, including the date and more gameplay details. In the meantime, check out some other best PC games of all time, including the original Hitman.