James Bond: First Light Officially Returns March 2027

Watching every James Bond movie a while back was a treat. While not all of them are winners, and many are fiercely debated in terms of quality, the sheer number of different takes on the same formula is a thrill to watch unfold. Every Bond actor offers up something different, even Lazenby, who is arguably in the best Bond flick, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

That said, the Bond mythos has lulls. While the series was on a roll from 1962 to 1989, delivering a movie roughly every two years, there were gaps, even starting with Brosnan.

It took Eon six years to deliver Goldeneye after License to Kill, four years to transition from Brosnan to Craig, and now, it's going on five years, the longest hiatus in Bond history. You won't have to wait that long this time, though. Thanks to an official announcement on YouTube, we're getting a new release in March 2027.

After weeks of speculation and confusion, IO Interactive has finally revealed the release date for 007 First Light on Switch 2: March 18, 2027. It's still a few months away, but fans were worried that the Switch 2 port would be canned altogether, and now it's fully confirmed, with pre-orders live now.

If you've never played 007 First Light before, it features a young Bond, something not really seen in any iteration of the character so far:

"Follow James Bond as a young, resourceful and sometimes reckless recruit in MI6’s training program, and discover an origin story of the world’s most famous spy. After a heroic act, young Naval air crewman James Bond is offered to join the newly revived Double 0 program. But when a mission to stop a rogue agent ends in tragedy, he must join forces with his reluctant mentor Greenway to expose a deep conspiracy and stop a looming coup at the heart of the State."

Nintendo has even provided a first look at the game on Switch 2, and while the fidelity isn't as impressive as on other systems, it seems to run at a stable framerate. There's also a special pre-order bonus for the Switch 2 edition: The Goldeneye Suit. It features the slick suit and tie that Pierce Brosnan wore in the hit film that brought Bond back into the limelight following up Timothy Dalton.

Switch 2 ports don't always fare well in the current climate, and are sometimes delayed or canceled outright. Take Borderlands 4, for instance, which is "paused indefinitely" on the console until Gearbox can figure it out. It's a shame, because plenty of Switch ports run great, and the Switch 2's enhanced tech makes many ports possible that weren't on the original Switch.

Despite its issues, 007 First Light is one of the only James Bond releases in recent years, following 2021's No Time to Die. Currently, Amazon is trying to cast and develop a new Bond for a new generation, and they'll have to do some showstopping stuff to top the financial success of Daniel Craig's run, warts and all.