“It felt surreal to go from so much doubt to so much praise.”
But on the inside, atIO Interactive, much more was going on.
It survived a management buyout during which the entire future of Hitman was in doubt.
The story begins with the release of, and feedback to,Hitman Absolutionin 2012.
Remember, this was the first Hitman game in several years and expectations were high.
“Absolution isn’t its finest hour,” Tom Bramwell wrote inour Hitman Absolution review.
“That game was not well received within our audience,” Christian Elverdam tells me.
He’s the chief creative officer and co-owner of IO Interactive.
“Many Hitman fans said, ‘Well, that’s not a Hitman game.'”
The wilderness years that followedHitman: Blood Moneyhad really shaken IO’s fans.
The follow-up in 2011,Kane & Lynch: Dog Days, was much worse.
IO was having a hard time behind the scenes because of it.
To top it all off, Microsoft cancelled an unknown game IO had been working on for it.
The upshot: lay-offs -significant, emotionally draining, lay-offs.
There was a lot at stake.
Nevertheless, he and IO realised something significant had to change.
Abrak is now the CEO, incidentally, and the other co-owner of IO.
He also joins us on the call.
What were the ideas they had for Hitman’s future?
One of them was a change of tone.
“So from being down and out and vengeful, you’re more this high profile assassin.
Humour, or satire, was another crucial ingredient he wanted to add in.
But back then, [there was] a lot of scepticism and self-doubt and external doubt.”
World of Assassination, then, existed both as a name and idea back in 2013.
“It was meant to be one executable back then,” Hakan Abrak adds.
The manifestation of this was Hitman 2016 being episodic - one game that would expand over time.
But an odd technical quirk prevented IO doing it.
So we had to split it up and call it Hitman 2."
As with any big change, there was concern.
Fans weren’t sure about the episodic idea.
Why are you only doing one episodic release?"
But as people got to play Hitman 2016, opinions changed.
To people saying, ‘That’s great - this is an amazing way to take Hitman.
It’s such a good game.’
We won Game of the Year.
It felt surreal to go from so much doubt to so much praise."
Yet, significant turbulence lay ahead.
But months passed and no buyer emerged, with a similar consequence:lay-offs.
It was a fraught existence for a while.
Hitman’s sandbox, assassinate-your-way approach, and its revitalised sense of fun and humour, resonated with streamers.
“It feels like we came home to the franchise,” Elverdam says, reflecting on that period.
“I think we’re more deliberate [now].
We know who we are.
We don’t want to go so wide that we ruin what is actually our reason to exist.
That’s where we found our bedrock over these years.”
IO is in a very different place now to where it was even a handful of years ago.
And it’s spread across three physical locations: Malmo, Barcelona and Copenhagen.
“I mean, I’m feeling absolutely amazing about it,” Hakan Abrak says, beaming.
“That’s the first thing.
And there were no guarantees that we would make it.
“And the day of defeat went from three months to four months to five months.
“It’s about spreading our wings with other titles as well.
“Sometimes I have to ask myself, ‘Is this really happening?'”
“Yes it is, and it just feels really good.”
He means Bond of course - we talk a bit about it in the fuller interview.
“But obviously we’ll come back to beloved Agent 47.
He’s still very much in the heart of this company.”
The next decade will be very different for IO Interactive than the one that’s just been.
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