Posted in: Games, Video Games | Tagged: hitman, io interactive, layoffs, Sqaure Enix

Hitman Dev Io Interactive Announced A Number Of Layoffs

After splitting with Square Enix, it looks like Io Interactive is in for a rough time. The studio announced today that they've begun laying off employees following the split.

The reason for the layoffs remains vague, with the studio only claiming, "we're sad that great talent and good friends will be leaving the studio."

The announcement came through Twitter, with the following message:

Square Enix dropped the studio following their end of year finance report, citing a loss on the studio's episodic reboot of cornerstone franchise Hitman. Sure, Square also claimed to be focusing on key franchises, but they've spent years and a lot of money publishing Hitman games, and the franchise is one of their key western titles. So the split definitely seems less than friendly.

And while the rights to the franchise remain with Io, their future is still rather uncertain. Sure, they can take Hitman to another shop, and they did say they had at least 3 seasons of planned content for the reboot series, but in the mean time, things look rough.

Since their statement about the layoffs cites future ventures, it seems like thy plan to remain open for some time, though no definite plans have been set. We've reached out to Io for further comment and will update when we hear back.

At this time, we'd just like to offer our support to those affected by the layoffs.

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