IO Interactive is putting its Hitman franchise on hold to focus on its long-awaited James Bond game. According to PC Gamer, IO Interactive chief creative officer Christian Elverdam told Eurogamer that fans may have to wait a while for another major entry, though Hitman: World of Assassination will be updated.
“Right now, a major, major new Hitman game… that’s a little bit on hiatus, as we’re building another agent fantasy that’s also taking up a lot of our time,” Elverdam said. “But we’ll come back to beloved Agent 47. He’s still very much in the heart of this company.”
The “agent fantasy” Elverdam is referring to is, of course, the James Bond game announced in 2020 and currently known only as Project 007. Since then, little has been revealed about it, though we do know it will have an original story.
IO Interactive recently renamed Hitman 3 World of Assassination, incorporating all previous Hitman Trilogy levels and introducing the Freelance roguelike mode. The developer still intends to support the game, even if no full sequel is in the works.
“I hope we can have our cake and eat it too, in the sense that we have such a wonderful platform where we can keep experimenting with what the formula can do and what people expect of it,” Elverdam said.
Outside of Hitman, IO Interactive will have plenty to keep it busy, as it announced in February that an online fantasy RPG is also in the works.
The IO Interactive studio made the announcement earlier today on its official website. The new studio is in Maslak, one of Saryer’s most important business districts. The new Istanbul-based studio joins the developer’s other development studios in Copenhagen, Malmo, and Barcelona.
The developer is still looking for a senior game producer, senior gameplay animator, and game designer for Project 007, as well as animators, producers, programmers, combat designers, and a multiplayer programmer for Project Fantasy.
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