IO Interactive is putting its Hitman franchise on hold as it focuses on its long-awaited James Bond game instead.
According to PC gamersIO Interactive Chief Creative Officer Christian Elverdam said. Eurogamer it may be a while before fans get another big entry, though Hitman: World of Assassination will continue to get updated.
“Right now, the big, big new Hitman game…it’s a bit of a break as we create another agent fantasy that also takes up a lot of our time,” Elverdam said. “But obviously we will be returning to our beloved Agent 47. He is still central to this company.”
The “Agent Fantasy” Elverdam is talking about is, of course, the James Bond game announced in 2020, which is currently simply codenamed Project 007. However, very little has been known about it since, though we we know it. there will be an original story.
IO Interactive recently rebranded Hitman 3 as World of Assassination, adding all previous Hitman Trilogy levels to the game as well as launching the roguelike Freelance mode. The developer still has plans to support the game, even if it’s not yet working on a full sequel.
“I hope we can get our cake and eat it, in the sense that we have such a great platform where we can keep experimenting with what the formula can do and what people expect from it,” Elverdam said.
“And then at some point, obviously like any creator, it would be nice to then come in and say, ‘Okay, okay, with everything we’ve learned, what would it be like if we had to re-formulate the sandbox.’ What would it look like?”
IO Interactive will certainly have plenty to do outside of Hitman, as it was announced in February that a fantasy online RPG is also in development at the studio. “We are embarking on a new adventure. It expands our creativity, our possibilities and, in a sense, our identity. We are building a new world, a new intellectual property: a fantasy role-playing online game, ”then said.
Ryan Dinsdale is a freelancer for IGN and current UK news editor. He will talk about The Witcher every day.