The HITMAN series is going on hiatus while IOI focus on 007

For its entire existence, IO Interactive have focused almost exclusively on the Hitman franchise, with their most-recent non-Hitman project being 2010’s Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. After successfully turning the latest HITMAN trilogy into a ‘World of Assassination’ sandbox, the team at IOI are putting Agent 47 on ice in order to focus on other endeavours.

IOI’s chief creative officer and co-owner, Christian Elverdam, recently sat down with Eurogamer to discuss all manner of topics from the studio’s earliest days to its lowest of lows. In discussing the HITMAN franchise, Elverdam revealed that in the wake of the most recent Freelancer update, Agent 47 will be going away for a while, saying:

“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 [James Bond 007]. But obviously we'll come back to beloved Agent 47. He's still very much in the heart of this company.”

While fans should not expect any major new content, HITMAN’s World of Assassination will continue to be updated in some ways, with Elverdam explaining “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.”

After successfully rounding out a new and reimagined Hitman trilogy and then innovating upon it further to combine them all into one seamless package, it makes sense that the team at IOI would want a break. That said, with Hitman being the studio’s bread and butter, it is safe to say that Agent 47 will return.

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KitGuru says: What do you think of these statements? What is your favourite Hitman game? What are your hopes for the new Bond project? Let us know down below.

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