Developer IO Interactive on why Bond needs to "earn" his iconic theme music in 007: First Light

Getting your hands on an iconic and beloved entertainment property is surely a blessing and a curse. On one hand, you get the opportunity to mine the history of the franchise and its stories for your own gain, and get to leverage the interest of a dedicated congregation of existing fans. On the other hand… there’s a lot of expectation. People know this franchise. They know this character like a friend. They know how they want it.

This challenge isn’t just present in gameplay and the casting of Bond, but everywhere around the edges. There’s a ‘Bondian’ energy that absolutely must run through this game like lettering through a stick of seaside rock – and one of the departments most under the gun is surely IO Interactive’s audio department, who have to make sure gadgets and guns sound right but also manage one of the most iconic aspects of a 007 adventure: the soundtrack.

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“60 years of Bond, there’s a lot of sonic iconography,” admits Dominic Vega, the audio and missions director on 007: First Light. We’re chatting briefly as part of an overarching tour of IO Interactive’s Copenhagen headquarters where I got to see a chunk of Bond’s latest adventure and chat to some of the developers bringing it to life. Much as with the rest of the game, the musical challenge is summarized in its fresh-faced, young version of MI6’s most famous agent. This is a young Bond, and he isn’t yet fully-formed as the super-spy we know. At the same time, an expectation is there: fans want to hear certain sounds and themes.

Or, to put it another way, this Bond has to “earn his themes,” Vega says. “Throughout the campaign he grows, and he’s earning his number – and he’s earning his themes.”

The result is a soundtrack and audio landscape with ambition, and in turn quite unlike anything that IO Interactive has produced before. The moody rumble of Hitman wouldn’t be appropriate here, and nor would the atmospheric face-slap of Kane & Lynch 2’s score. Something different is required – and on top of all that, the studio wants to create a soundtrack that is distinctly Bond but also differentiated from the audio signature of the cinematic Bonds.