007: First Mild. Venture Fantasy. MindsEye. IO Interactive has lots occurring within the coming days, months, and years. However one key franchise of theirs has been conspicuously quiet: Hitman.
It is not that IOI is doing nothing with Hitman — it did simply announce {that a} co-op mode is within the works for the video games and Mads Mikkelsen will reprise his iconic On line casino Royale position as an Elusive Goal. However as for brand new Hitman video games, the franchise has formally been on hiatus since 2023. Updates apart, it looks like IOI could be getting a contact too busy to present Agent 47 extra main work.
So I requested Hakan Abrak, CEO of IO Interactive, if that was the case once we sat down for an interview this previous weekend following the reveal of 007: First Mild. And he reassured me that Agent 47 was nonetheless on energetic responsibility.
“The Hitman sequence is certainly not executed,” Abrak mentioned. “We’re not executed with Hitman. IO has been synonymous with Hitman, regardless of the opposite IPs we have now executed. We completely are proud, grateful, and pleased with Hitman. However clearly doing one other new IP, Venture Fantasy, and doing Bond, it takes loads of our sources and time. However as you noticed, we introduced the Hitman co-op, which is an enormous dream of mine. And they are going to be perhaps in numerous shapes, however they are going to positively be extra Hitman sooner or later.”
My query to Abrak was sparked by our prior dialogue of the variations between Agent 47 and James Bond. Although IO Interactive’s espionage pedigree is definitely what led to the studio being trusted with the Bond license [to kill], the 2 heroes are fairly totally different in observe. Bond leans extra towards motion, with Agent 47 preferring stealth and disguise. And whereas Bond definitely has a cultured humorousness, the Hitman video games are famend for being… effectively, fairly foolish! Agent 47 clothes up in a flamingo mascot go well with at one level, for Pete’s sake.
So will 007: First Mild nonetheless have that Hitman taste? Sure, mentioned Abrak, however it should have a tone all its personal.
“It is vitally, essential to get the humor proper. In Denmark, we love darkish humor and the silliness as a result of it takes away from the seriousness of being an murderer. Bond is totally different. Bond, the humor is initially very British. And the humor there’s to assist the vitality and his character, which is way more entrance and heart. So I might say much less foolish. It is not flamingo disguises, as you mentioned, however nonetheless entertaining.”
Abrak continued: “And it is a recreation that performs otherwise. It is emphasizing extra motion, for certain. And the construction of Bond is extra prefer it’s respiratory extra. Like there are extra linear elements the place you could have the spectacle moments and unique automobiles. After which we additionally give house in Bond to open up a bit and breathe a bit. So you could have positively glimpses of IO Interactive, as you’d know from Hitman video games as effectively, however it’s extra entrance foot. It is much less of an analytical thoughts, chess play, the place you sit and meticulously plan. All of the clockwork issues in Hitman the place when you do that or do that, the place Bond is extra impulsive, extra reckless generally. It is extra like he is simply taking issues and appearing and dealing with it extra as they come up.
“So it is a totally different dynamism, as a result of we wish to make one thing that feels true for a Bond fantasy. So it is positively not a re-skin of a Hitman form of factor, however I really feel that folks will see IO Interactive, that could be a recreation made by Interactive, however they may even see that this recreation is one thing else. It is one thing that is true to what we’re hopefully going to ship 360, an final Bond expertise.”
We’ll be publishing our full interview with Abrak later this week, together with dialogue of not simply Hitman, however additionally 007: First Mild and upcoming IO Interactive-published recreation MindsEye.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Yow will discover her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Received a narrative tip? Ship it to rvalentine@ign.com.
