PlayStation’s recent State of Play for 2025 has gotten many people excited, thanks in part to IO Interactive’s gameplay reveal of an actual, fully-fledged James Bond game called 007 First Light. The game will be released on March 27, 2026. As grand as it is, however, a lot of fans have pointed out something a bit too jarring or glaring in the 007 First Light gameplay trailer, the poor framerate, especially as soon as the usual Bond spectacle began:
IO Interactive is generally known for its long history of Hitman games, which have mostly been slow-paced assassination puzzles. I’m sure I’m not the only one who noticed just how much of Hitman‘s DNA is shared with 007 First Light. However, once the gameplay evolves past the social sneaking and into full-blown firefights and explosions, the framerate notably tanked. It was something many viewers have pointed out.
“Conceptually looks great. Like hitman meets uncharted with a bit of modern splinter cell thrown in. Performance wise, that was rough!!” says a YouTube user
“Uncharted: The Old Country – 007 FPS”
“007 Frames. 🗣️🔥”
Others were optimistic, though, because March 2026 is still plenty of months to go and should give more time for IO Interactive to iron out the performance issues. Hopefully. Some even alluded to how IO Interactive is at least being “honest” about their game after assuming that it was actual footage that’s not scripted for presentation.
“The game has 6 months to polish the framerate! I believe in you IO Interactive.”
“this might be the most honest gamplay showcase ive seen in years. they have plenty of time to iron out the prformance otherwise looks fantastic.”
For the record, 007 First Light was made using Glacier Engine and not the infamous hardware-killer, Unreal Engine. Hence, I’m still somewhat optimistic about the game’s optimization on both consoles and the PC, despite the framerate issues present in the gameplay trailer. Additionally, the game will be targeting a 60 FPS framerate for the PS5 Pro and will be available for the Switch 2. So my fingers are crossed that the frame drops and performance issues won’t be present in the final release.
The Hitman Game We All Wanted
Given how IO Interactive’s Hitman franchise was obviously inspired by the James Bond mythos, it was poetic on their part to take control of the bigger IP. While Hitman games have been popular and unique, there’s no denying that the assassin puzzle formula is getting repetitive, especially for someone like me who has been a fan of the franchise ever since 2002’s Hitman: Silent Assassin. The franchise simply lacks action.
Thus, 007 First Light, with an actual action-oriented gameplay segment, might just be the evolution that IO Interactive needs, except it’s a bittersweet celebration since they implemented it on a James Bond game instead of Hitman. Meanwhile, what Hitman will look like in the future is uncertain, and that might well depend on how IO Interactive pulls off what appears to be the grandest Bond game to date.
