Companies were offering a single dollar for Hitman dev IO Interactive when Square Enix was looking to offload it
There's a parallel universe out there where things went much, much worse for our favourite chrome-dome assassin.
It might be strange to recall after Hitman 3's stonking success, but series developer IO Interactive was in a very precarious situation not so long ago. When 2016's Hitman failed to please IOI's owners at Square Enix, the corporation began scrabbling around looking for someone to take the studio of its hands.
We know how that turned out—thankfully, IOI eventually managed to buy itself out from under Square—but a recent feature in Edge magazine has cast a little light on just how much worse things could have been for Hitman and IOI in general. We're talking free-to-play Hitman, companies-offering-$1-for-the-whole-studio levels of grim.
Some companies would offer $1 to take over IO, because of the responsibilities and running costs," said Abrak, while others discussed the possibility of reducing the studio to a fifth of its size and "just [doing] free-to-play with Hitman." Abrak wasn't enthused, telling Square Enix that if that's what the company wanted, "I will do everything I can to make the transition as smooth as I can—but I don't believe in this and I will not be part of it."
From Hitman to 007 and everything between – Edge magazine goes behind the scenes with IO Interactive
Holiday Long Read | Ups, downs and all-arounds, IO Interactive's story is one of turbulence and triumph
So what do we know about 007? Well, it's no secret that IO is casting its own Bond and rewinding to the character's youth to tell an origin story. The few other breadcrumbs we're able to pick up during our time in the office suggest a tone closer to Daniel Craig than Roger Moore, and perhaps a more scripted experience than Hitman's freeform jaunts. It's been pitched as "the ultimate spycraft fantasy", which suggests gadgets – and perhaps a step away from the murderous objectives of Agent 47.
This final point seems to be supported by the way IO convinced James Bond owner Eon Productions to hand it the licence. "Our impression was clearly that they were not looking for a game," Abrak says. "And I think it's fair to say that they might not have been super-happy with some of the later games." Moving away from "action-oriented shooters", in Elverdam's words, seems to have been part of his pitch, presenting Hitman as a game in which violence is actually discouraged – with the exception of one or two very specific murders per level, of course. "That helped us convince the Eon Group that there's a sophistication in how we treat the agent fantasy."
There's one final connection to Hitman we need to investigate. Given that Abrak and Elverdam's big idea for World Of Assassination – and the thing that, ultimately, rescued the whole operation – was to deliver it gradually, over multiple years, do they have a similar vision for 007? "Yeah, absolutely," Abrak says. "I mean, that's the dream. That's the ambition. And it's also how we always talked about it." IO isn't interested in making a licensed game just "to score some money", he says, adding that it's turned down offers from "several other IP holders". It all depends on how the first game performs, of course, but Elverdam is clear about his hopes. "I would love players to look back on multiple Bond games by IO and go, 'Wow, that was quite a journey!'" Standing up from the conference table – its chibi Agent 47 still bearing marks of wear and tear that won't quite rub off – it occurs to us it's a sentiment that could just as easily apply to the first 25 years of IO Interactive as a whole.
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