Fans of Hitman will have to wait quite a bit longer for the next game in the franchise after developer IO Interactive stated it has shifted its focus to an upcoming James Bond project. The studio is also working on a new fantasy-themed RPG that is keeping it busy.
Although IO Interactive stated that development hasn’t completely halted on new Hitman content, the next entry will come after some experimentation with what it can offer before the studio starts to develop a new game.
The news comes after IO changed the name of Hitman 3 to Hitman World of Assassination, which included collected content from the Hitman 1 and 2 titles, neatly tying all of the games into one package. According to Eurogamer, Hitman World of Assassination is a project that was long planned for.
World of Assassination is meant to be an ongoing project for the studio. Instead of new releases on a schedule, chief creative officer and co-owner of IO Interactive told Eurogamer it would “change the formula from monolithic releases on a five-to-six year cadence, to having this heartbeat and being constantly out there.”
Despite Hitman hiatus, IO has big ideas
The new James Bond title they are working on is taking up a lot of the company’s time, but Everdam says they’ll come back to it, as Agent 47 is “still very much the heart of this company.” Project 007, which is the game’s working title, is a new James Bond video game set to feature an original Bond origin story, and has no release date planned. In fact, the company is still hiring people for its development.
Those who love Hitman will still likely see some content additions to Hitman World of Assassination during the time the company puts its efforts more towards Project 007, especially since the company has alluded to the fact they’d like to experiment with what Hitman could be in the future.
However, players who were hoping for a new title to be announced this year during the many showcases set to take place in the summer will need to temper expectations around the idea of a completely new game in the franchise.
