'It Was Fairly Small, It Did Feel Significant' — How the Death of the Queen Forced IO to Tweak 007 First Light

A short time into developing 007 First Light, something happened that meant parts of James Bond’s next adventure needed to be rewritten. No, it wasn’t anything going down internally at the studio that led to such a change, but something entirely more global: the death of Queen Elizabeth II of England.

The news was huge, but the impact on the script, not so much. It mainly revolved around instances of characters having to refer to protecting both King and country rather than Queen, and Bond being on His Majesty’s Secret Service rather than her.

“It was fairly small, it did feel significant,” revealed Martin Emborg, First Light’s narrative director, in an interview with IGN.

"It wasn't like going in and going like, delete, delete, delete. It did feel, and we knew it obviously when we recorded it, that it was kind of a big deal that it's like His Majesty's Secret Service. It's a new world."

So new, in fact, that it’s the first time a 007 story has taken place during the reign of a male British monarch, with Ian Fleming’s original novels having been written mere months after Queen Elizabeth II’s 1952 coronation, and Daniel Craig’s final Bond film, No Time to Die, having been released a year before her passing. It’s a new world for Britain’s most famous spy, but not one that felt too daunting for IO Interactive to enter.

“It doesn’t feel weird”, replied Emborg. “I feel a great sense of kind of reverence for it. This is something that's been going on for way beyond our lifetimes, and it's inspired generations. So yeah, it feels like you get to play in a sandbox that is just way bigger than you.”

You can read about how Daniel Craig’s face was put into a Hitman map in order to secure the Bond rights here. You can also check out our story about the casting of IO's new James Bond here, and the IO CEO’s thoughts on publishing MindsEye following its disastrous launch.

For much more on 007 First Light, make sure to read my extensive preview full of gameplay and story details.

Photo by Dominic Lipinski - WPA Pool/Getty Images.

Simon Cardy is a Senior Editor at IGN who can mainly be found skulking around open world games, indulging in Korean cinema, or despairing at the state of Tottenham Hotspur and the New York Jets. Follow him on Bluesky at @cardy.bsky.social.