IO Interactive has breathed new life into the Hitman franchise with its World of Assassination trilogy over the course of the last few years, to the point where it’s probably in the best shape it has ever been since it’s inception, especially now, following the launch of Hitman World of Assassination. Understandably, there’s no shortage of excitement over what the future might hold for the franchise- but where IO Interactive is concerned, the developer isn’t thinking about that just yet.
Speaking in a recent interview with Eurogamer, IO Interactive’s co-owner and chief creative officer Christian Elverdam said that though the Hitman series obviously remains a core part of the studio’s identity, and though the developer will eventually go back to the series at some point in the future, for now, Hitman is on a bit of a “hiatus,” with IO Interactive currently focused largely on its James Bond game, Project 007.
“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. “And then at some point, obviously, as any creative, it would be nice to then go in and say, ‘Okay, well, with everything we’ve learned, what would that be if we had to re-articulate a sandbox – what would that look like?'”
“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,” he continued. “But obviously we’ll come back to beloved Agent 47. He’s still very much in the heart of this company.”
This echoes similar statements by the studio, with IO Interactive having said following the launch of Hitman 3 that the series “needs a bit of a breather.”
For now, in addition to Project 007, IO Interactive recently confirmed that it’s also working on an online fantasy RPG codenamed Project Fantasy. Past leaks have suggested that the game is being developed as an Xbox-exclusive in collaboration with Microsoft.
As for when the two in-development games could release, IO Interactive said last year that it doesn’t expect to release a new game until at least April 2025.
