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IO Interactive

January 01, 1970

IO Interactive A/S (IOI) is a Danish video game developer based in Copenhagen, best known for creating and developing the Hitman and Kane and Lynch franchises. IO Interactive's most recent game is Hitman 3, which was released in January 2021.

IO Interactive A/S
FormerlyIO Interactive ApS (1998–2000)
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded16 September 1998; 25 years ago (1998-09-16)
Founders
  • Jesper Vorsholt Jørgensen
  • Rasmus Guldberg-Kjær
  • Martin Munk Pollas
  • Karsten Lemann Hvidberg
  • Jacob Andersen
  • Janos Flösser
  • David Guldbrandsen
Headquarters
Copenhagen
,
Denmark
Key people
Hakan B. Abrak (CEO)
Products
Number of employees
151[1] (2022)
ParentSquare Enix Europe (2004–2017)
Subsidiaries
  • IOI Barcelona
  • IOI Brighton
  • IOI Istanbul
  • IOI Malmö
Websiteioi.dk

The company was founded in September 1998 as a joint venture between the seven-man development team of Reto-Moto and film studio Nordisk Film. IO Interactive was acquired by publisher Eidos Interactive for £23 million in March 2004, which saw itself acquired by Square Enix and renamed as Square Enix Europe in 2009. In May 2017, Square Enix ceased funding for IO Interactive and started seeking a buyer for the studio. IO Interactive performed a management buyout in June 2017, becoming independent and regaining the rights to their Hitman and Freedom Fighters franchises. IO Interactive employs 200 people as of January 2021 and operates four subsidiary studios: IOI Malmö in Malmö, Sweden; IOI Barcelona in Barcelona, Spain, IOI Istanbul in Istanbul, Turkey, and IOI Brighton in Brighton, England.

History edit

Background and foundation (1997–1998) edit

 
Sign outside IO Interactive's former location at Farvergade 2, Copenhagen

In 1997, Reto-Moto was founded as a video game developer in Copenhagen.[2] Before the studio finished any games, they struck a partnership with Danish film studio Nordisk Film in 1998 that would lead to the creation of a developer jointly owned by the two companies.[3] The resulting company, IO Interactive, was established on 16 September 1998,[4] with Reto-Moto's seven employees—Jesper Vorsholt Jørgensen, Rasmus Guldberg-Kjær, Martin Munk Pollas, Karsten Lemann Hvidberg, Jacob Andersen, Janos Flösser, and David Guldbrandsen—serving as the founders and initial staff of IO Interactive.[5][6] Nordisk Film and the seven founders each held a 50% stake in the venture.[6] By March 2004, Nordisk Film owned 40.3% in IO Interactive.[5]

Hitman: Codename 47 (1998–2000) edit

Early on, IO Interactive conceptualised a fantasy massively multiplayer online game (MMO) entitled Rex Dominus, however, Nordisk Film staff asked the development team to cease production on Rex Dominus and "test [themselves]" by developing a "simple shooter" instead.[7] As such, the team opted for a run-and-gun action game, as it took less time to develop compared to an MMO, drawing inspiration from John Woo films, such as Hard Boiled and The Killer.[7] They turned to develop for personal computers (PCs), because they were unable to acquire development kits for consoles, and had also found interest in the steady increase of PCs' 3D graphics capabilities.[7]

A part of the development on the game, which would later become Hitman: Codename 47, was the creation of the Glacier, the studio's proprietary game engine that fit their needs; co-founder Andersen stated: "Since killing was the main theme of the game, we wanted to do something special. [...] Standard 'death animations' just looked too static so some of the coders tried to see if they could use real-time inverse kinematics for the falling bodies. The first versions ran terribly slowly until one of the programmers figured out a way to fake the whole calculation."[7] This led to the first use of advanced ragdoll physics in a video game.[7] This physics system caught the eyes of British publisher Eidos Interactive, and especially staff member Jonas Eneroth, who thought that the system could greatly benefit Codename 47's gameplay.[7] Following six months of negotiations, a publishing deal was signed between IO Interactive and Eidos Interactive.[8] Eneroth became executive producer on the project.[7]

As executive producer, Eneroth encouraged the development team to stray away from the run-and-gun gameplay, and instead focus on a "methodical experience", including dragging dead bodies around the scene to create tension.[7] He had previously worked on Deus Ex and Thief: The Dark Project, which had heavily exposed him to the stealth game mechanics he wished to see in Codename 47.[7] The game was released on 19 November 2000,[9] with reception mixed due to the difficulty of the game.[7]

Further ventures (2000–2004) edit

In October 2001, Eidos Interactive announced Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, a sequel to Codename 47.[10] Following a slight delay in March 2002,[11] it was released in October 2002, this time for Microsoft Windows, as well as PlayStation 2 and Xbox.[12] To more easily overcome the challenge of bringing the game to consoles, IO Interactive grew "considerably" in headcount.[8] The game was received well by critics; according to Greg Kasavin in his review for GameSpot, "Hitman 2 fixes virtually all of the problems of its predecessor".[13] The success of Silent Assassin came as a surprise to the team,[8] and was swiftly followed up with by porting the game to GameCube the following year.[14]

In 2003, IO Interactive decided to open a Hungarian offshoot, named IO Interactive Hungary.[6] To properly establish the studio, 50 Hungarian staff were hired and brought to the company's Copenhagen headquarters for a six-month training programme.[6] However, after the training had been finished, IO Interactive realised that there were 50 people with talent but no leadership that could guide them when in Hungary.[6] Instead of fulfilling the Hungarian subsidiary, IO Interactive opted to offer all 50 people jobs at their headquarters, to which most of them agreed.[6] In October that year, Electronic Arts released Freedom Fighters, an IO Interactive-developed third-person shooter which was previously announced as Freedom: The Battle for Liberty Island in May 2002.[15][16] Although a sequel to Freedom Fighters has been anticipated, IO Interactive has been unable to comment on whether such a game was in development.[17]

Acquisition by Eidos Interactive, further Hitman releases (2004–2006) edit

On 3 March 2004, Eidos Interactive announced that they were acquiring IO Interactive for £23 million in cash and stock, plus another £5 million linked to the studio's performance in the following four years.[18][19] The deal closed on 31 March that year.[5] At the time, IO Interactive was Europe's 10th largest video game developer, with 140 staff members employed at their offices.[5] The sale was primarily negotiated by founding member Flösser.[20]

The first game to release under Eidos Interactive's management was Hitman: Contracts, the third game in the Hitman franchise, which was announced and released in April that year.[21] The game was developed in about nine months, from concept stage to console submission, but was under the influence of "crunch time" throughout the entire development.[22] Contracts received positive reception.[23][24] The next game, Hitman: Blood Money, was announced shortly afterwards, in November 2004.[25] Released in May 2006,[26] the game was praised by critics and retrospectively multiply referred to as the best game in the Hitman series.[27][28]

Other games (2006–2010) edit

IO Interactive announced their next game, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, in August 2006.[29] Unlike their Hitman games, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men played as a linear, cooperative gameplay-focused third-person shooter, as opposed to Hitman's sandbox solo stealth gameplay.[30] Released in November 2007,[31] the game gained mixed reviews, wherein some reviewers felt like the game had a disconnect with modern gameplay styles.[32] On 11 April 2008, four of IO Interactive's co-founders, Vorsholt Jørgensen, Pollas, Andersen and Guldbrandsen, announced that they had, together with former Eidos Interactive executive producer Neil Donnell, reformed Reto-Moto as an active developer.[33] Guldbrandsen and Donnell became chief technology officer and chief executive officer, respectively.[34] Six further IO Interactive employees followed to Reto-Moto in December that year.[35] Co-founder and at the time managing director Flösser left the company in April 2008, and was succeeded by Niels Jørgensen, who had joined the company in 2002.[36]

In January 2009, Eidos Interactive announced IO Interactive-developed Mini Ninjas, a family-friendly game, as opposed to all of the studio's previous titles.[37] Jørgensen explained that, using Mini Ninjas, the studio wanted to reach a broader demographic in the gaming market.[6] Shortly after the announcement of Mini Ninjas, in April 2009, Eidos Interactive was acquired by Japanese video game conglomerate Square Enix for £84.3 million.[38] Eidos Interactive was reorganised over the course of 2009 and became known as Square Enix Europe in November that year.[39] Square Enix Europe continued to oversee their previously owned development studios, including IO Interactive.[40] Speaking for IO Interactive, Karsten Lund stated that the studio experienced "no loss of freedom" following the buyout.[41]

A sequel to Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, titled Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days, was announced in November 2009,[42] and released in August 2010.[43] Critics found that most elements in the game had deliberately been made "ugly" to better fit into the well-told story of the game.[44] In a November 2009 interview with gaming website Gamasutra, Jørgensen revealed that, due to the high costs associated with living in Scandinavia, much of the company's graphic department had been outsourced to Shanghai.[6] The Chinese office had been set up by two Danish representatives from IO Interactive, with one Dane permanently residing in Shanghai to look over the outsourcing progress.[6] In March 2010, 35 of previously 200 employees were let go from the company.[45][46] A further 30 people were laid off in November that year, supposedly due to the cancellation of a project that was in development for Microsoft.[47]

Return to Hitman (2011–2016) edit

In May 2011, IO Interactive and Square Enix announced that they would be returning to the Hitman franchise through a new entry, Hitman: Absolution.[48][49] A spin-off demo, Hitman: Sniper Challenge, was released in May 2012.[50] Absolution was released in November that year,[51] and, like Blood Money, saw highly positive reception from critics.[52] However, many fans of the series, including the developers at IO Interactive, felt like Absolution was leaning too far into the mainstream, as a result of which they were losing their core player base.[53] In February 2012, Square Enix opened a new Copenhagen office under the IO Interactive name.[54] The following March, this new office was announced to be Hapti.co, a subsidiary studio focused on mobile games.[55] Hapti.co was sold to Wargaming Mobile, the mobile games division of publisher Wargaming, in September 2017, and was renamed as Wargaming Copenhagen.[56]

In June 2013, 70 staff members, half of IO Interactive's workforce at the time, were made redundant due to "internal adjustments to face the challenges of today's market".[57][58] Square Enix announced that, from that point on, IO Interactive would exclusively focus on the development of new entries in the Hitman franchise.[59] At the same time, Hannes Seifert, who for the past three years had held the position of production director at IO Interactive, took over the company's management as studio head.[60] At a June 2015 press conference, Sony announced that a new game in the Hitman series, simply titled Hitman, had been slated for a December 2015 release.[61] The game was shortly delayed to March 2016,[62] and later announced to be released in an episodic model.[63] As such, starting in March 2016, the first season for the game was released through six episodes, the last of which was released in October 2016.[64] Around the same time, Ryan Barnard, previously director of the game The Division, left Massive Entertainment to join IO Interactive.[65] At the time, IO Interactive had 170 employees,[66] and was the largest video game developer in Denmark.[67]

Management buyout, further Hitman games, Project 007 (2017–present) edit

Seifert announced in February 2017 that he had left IO Interactive to return to his home country of Austria to pursue an unannounced project.[68] Hakan B. Abrak, also formerly production director for the studio, took over his duties, becoming chief executive officer.[69][70]

In May 2017, Square Enix announced that they had withdrawn funding from IO Interactive and would begin negotiating with potential investors that would want to purchase the studio.[71] Several jobs were cut at IO Interactive shortly following that announcement.[72][73] On 16 June 2017, IO Interactive announced that it had performed a management buyout, as a result of which they became independent.[74][75] Square Enix retained a minor financial stake in IO Interactive.[76] The buyout also included the intellectual property (IP) for Hitman and Freedom Fighters, but lacked that of Kane & Lynch and Mini Ninjas.[77][78][79] Yosuke Matsuda, president and chief executive officer of Square Enix at the time, stated that the company's decision to divest itself of IO Interactive, alongside Hitman, was made because they felt like the series needed to go on, but would be in better hands with another partner or with IO Interactive itself.[80][81] IO Interactive's associate director, Eskil Mohl, said that, when Square Enix decided to withdraw from the studio, they were already working on Hitman 2, and the job cuts were a necessary step to make sure that the studio would remain viable without Square Enix's backing; Mohl felt that this helped harden the studio to make Hitman 2 a stronger game.[82]

IO Interactive confirmed shortly after the split that all profits from 2016's Hitman would from that point go directly to the studio.[83] In August that year, the studio confirmed that another Hitman game was in development.[84] In April 2018, IO Interactive partnered with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WBIE) to distribute a Definitive Edition of 2016's Hitman, which was released in the following month.[85][86] In June 2018, IO Interactive announced Hitman 2.[87] Unlike 2016's Hitman, Hitman 2 does not feature an episodic release format.[88] Published by WBIE, Hitman 2 was released in November that year.[89] On 16 January 2019, IO Interactive opened a subsidiary studio, IOI Malmö, in Malmö, Sweden.[90] IO Interactive continued its partnership with WBIE and, by October 2019, had turned it into a multi-IP deal.[91]

In June 2020, IO Interactive announced Hitman 3, the conclusion to their World of Assassination trilogy, which was released on 20 January 2021 for Windows computers and current and next-gen consoles, with IO publishing the game themselves.[92]

In November 2020, the company announced Project 007, an original James Bond video game, working closely with licensors MGM and Eon Productions.[93][94] IO studio director Hakan Abrak said they had spent about two years in preparing a pitch to the Bond license holders, knowing that the current rights holders, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson were dissatisfied with the amount of violence in past Bond video games. IO's Bond will be a wholly original character and not use any of the film actors' likenesses, and Abrak anticipates that this game would be the start of a trilogy of Bond games.[95] Abrak expected that the game would require them to double their current staff of 200 employees to 400 by the time the first Bond game is released.[96]

IOI Barcelona, based in Barcelona, Spain, was announced in April 2021. The studio is to assist IOI on its active projects, including Hitman and Project 007 game.[97]

In February 2023, IO Interactive announced Project Fantasy, this new IP is set to be an online fantasy RPG, a departure from IO's Hitman games.[98]

IOI Brighton, in Brighton, England, was announced by the company in July 2023. The studio initially will support IO's Project 007, Project Fantasy and Hitman.[99]

Games developed edit

Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s)
2000 Hitman: Codename 47 Microsoft Windows Eidos Interactive
2002 Hitman 2: Silent Assassin GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox
2003 Freedom Fighters GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox Electronic Arts
2004 Hitman: Contracts Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox Eidos Interactive
2006 Hitman: Blood Money Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox, Xbox 360
2007 Kane & Lynch: Dead Men Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
2009 Mini Ninjas macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo DS, PlayStation 3, Wii, Xbox 360 Eidos Interactive, Feral Interactive
2010 Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Square Enix
2012 Hitman: Absolution macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 Square Enix, Feral Interactive
2016 Hitman Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Stadia, Xbox One
2018 Hitman 2 Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Stadia, Xbox One Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
2021 Hitman 3 Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Stadia, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S IO Interactive
TBA Project 007 (working title) TBA
TBA Project Fantasy[100] (working title) TBA

Cancelled games edit

  • Rex Dominus
  • Unannounced game for Microsoft (2009)

Glacier edit

Glacier is a proprietary in-house game engine developed for the Hitman series, Freedom Fighters, the Kane & Lynch series and Mini Ninjas.[101] Glacier supports DLSS,[102] XeSS[103] and FSR[104] simultaneously. The engine supports ray tracing in Hitman 3.[102] Eidos-Montréal licensed Glacier for their own in-house engine, Dawn Engine.[105]

References edit

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External links edit

  • Official website

January 01, 1970
interactive, danish, video, game, developer, based, copenhagen, best, known, creating, developing, hitman, kane, lynch, franchises, most, recent, game, hitman, which, released, january, 2021, sformerly, 1998, 2000, company, typeprivateindustryvideo, gamesfound. IO Interactive A S IOI is a Danish video game developer based in Copenhagen best known for creating and developing the Hitman and Kane and Lynch franchises IO Interactive s most recent game is Hitman 3 which was released in January 2021 IO Interactive A SFormerlyIO Interactive ApS 1998 2000 Company typePrivateIndustryVideo gamesFounded16 September 1998 25 years ago 1998 09 16 FoundersJesper Vorsholt JorgensenRasmus Guldberg KjaerMartin Munk PollasKarsten Lemann HvidbergJacob AndersenJanos FlosserDavid GuldbrandsenHeadquartersCopenhagen DenmarkKey peopleHakan B Abrak CEO ProductsHitman seriesKane amp Lynch seriesFreedom FightersMini NinjasNumber of employees151 1 2022 ParentSquare Enix Europe 2004 2017 SubsidiariesIOI BarcelonaIOI BrightonIOI IstanbulIOI MalmoWebsiteioi dk The company was founded in September 1998 as a joint venture between the seven man development team of Reto Moto and film studio Nordisk Film IO Interactive was acquired by publisher Eidos Interactive for 23 million in March 2004 which saw itself acquired by Square Enix and renamed as Square Enix Europe in 2009 In May 2017 Square Enix ceased funding for IO Interactive and started seeking a buyer for the studio IO Interactive performed a management buyout in June 2017 becoming independent and regaining the rights to their Hitman and Freedom Fighters franchises IO Interactive employs 200 people as of January 2021 and operates four subsidiary studios IOI Malmo in Malmo Sweden IOI Barcelona in Barcelona Spain IOI Istanbul in Istanbul Turkey and IOI Brighton in Brighton England Contents 1 History 1 1 Background and foundation 1997 1998 1 2 Hitman Codename 47 1998 2000 1 3 Further ventures 2000 2004 1 4 Acquisition by Eidos Interactive further Hitman releases 2004 2006 1 5 Other games 2006 2010 1 6 Return to Hitman 2011 2016 1 7 Management buyout further Hitman games Project 007 2017 present 2 Games developed 2 1 Cancelled games 2 2 Glacier 3 References 4 External linksHistory editBackground and foundation 1997 1998 edit nbsp Sign outside IO Interactive s former location at Farvergade 2 Copenhagen In 1997 Reto Moto was founded as a video game developer in Copenhagen 2 Before the studio finished any games they struck a partnership with Danish film studio Nordisk Film in 1998 that would lead to the creation of a developer jointly owned by the two companies 3 The resulting company IO Interactive was established on 16 September 1998 4 with Reto Moto s seven employees Jesper Vorsholt Jorgensen Rasmus Guldberg Kjaer Martin Munk Pollas Karsten Lemann Hvidberg Jacob Andersen Janos Flosser and David Guldbrandsen serving as the founders and initial staff of IO Interactive 5 6 Nordisk Film and the seven founders each held a 50 stake in the venture 6 By March 2004 Nordisk Film owned 40 3 in IO Interactive 5 Hitman Codename 47 1998 2000 edit Early on IO Interactive conceptualised a fantasy massively multiplayer online game MMO entitled Rex Dominus however Nordisk Film staff asked the development team to cease production on Rex Dominus and test themselves by developing a simple shooter instead 7 As such the team opted for a run and gun action game as it took less time to develop compared to an MMO drawing inspiration from John Woo films such as Hard Boiled and The Killer 7 They turned to develop for personal computers PCs because they were unable to acquire development kits for consoles and had also found interest in the steady increase of PCs 3D graphics capabilities 7 A part of the development on the game which would later become Hitman Codename 47 was the creation of the Glacier the studio s proprietary game engine that fit their needs co founder Andersen stated Since killing was the main theme of the game we wanted to do something special Standard death animations just looked too static so some of the coders tried to see if they could use real time inverse kinematics for the falling bodies The first versions ran terribly slowly until one of the programmers figured out a way to fake the whole calculation 7 This led to the first use of advanced ragdoll physics in a video game 7 This physics system caught the eyes of British publisher Eidos Interactive and especially staff member Jonas Eneroth who thought that the system could greatly benefit Codename 47 s gameplay 7 Following six months of negotiations a publishing deal was signed between IO Interactive and Eidos Interactive 8 Eneroth became executive producer on the project 7 As executive producer Eneroth encouraged the development team to stray away from the run and gun gameplay and instead focus on a methodical experience including dragging dead bodies around the scene to create tension 7 He had previously worked on Deus Ex and Thief The Dark Project which had heavily exposed him to the stealth game mechanics he wished to see in Codename 47 7 The game was released on 19 November 2000 9 with reception mixed due to the difficulty of the game 7 Further ventures 2000 2004 edit In October 2001 Eidos Interactive announced Hitman 2 Silent Assassin a sequel to Codename 47 10 Following a slight delay in March 2002 11 it was released in October 2002 this time for Microsoft Windows as well as PlayStation 2 and Xbox 12 To more easily overcome the challenge of bringing the game to consoles IO Interactive grew considerably in headcount 8 The game was received well by critics according to Greg Kasavin in his review for GameSpot Hitman 2 fixes virtually all of the problems of its predecessor 13 The success of Silent Assassin came as a surprise to the team 8 and was swiftly followed up with by porting the game to GameCube the following year 14 In 2003 IO Interactive decided to open a Hungarian offshoot named IO Interactive Hungary 6 To properly establish the studio 50 Hungarian staff were hired and brought to the company s Copenhagen headquarters for a six month training programme 6 However after the training had been finished IO Interactive realised that there were 50 people with talent but no leadership that could guide them when in Hungary 6 Instead of fulfilling the Hungarian subsidiary IO Interactive opted to offer all 50 people jobs at their headquarters to which most of them agreed 6 In October that year Electronic Arts released Freedom Fighters an IO Interactive developed third person shooter which was previously announced as Freedom The Battle for Liberty Island in May 2002 15 16 Although a sequel to Freedom Fighters has been anticipated IO Interactive has been unable to comment on whether such a game was in development 17 Acquisition by Eidos Interactive further Hitman releases 2004 2006 edit On 3 March 2004 Eidos Interactive announced that they were acquiring IO Interactive for 23 million in cash and stock plus another 5 million linked to the studio s performance in the following four years 18 19 The deal closed on 31 March that year 5 At the time IO Interactive was Europe s 10th largest video game developer with 140 staff members employed at their offices 5 The sale was primarily negotiated by founding member Flosser 20 The first game to release under Eidos Interactive s management was Hitman Contracts the third game in the Hitman franchise which was announced and released in April that year 21 The game was developed in about nine months from concept stage to console submission but was under the influence of crunch time throughout the entire development 22 Contracts received positive reception 23 24 The next game Hitman Blood Money was announced shortly afterwards in November 2004 25 Released in May 2006 26 the game was praised by critics and retrospectively multiply referred to as the best game in the Hitman series 27 28 Other games 2006 2010 edit IO Interactive announced their next game Kane amp Lynch Dead Men in August 2006 29 Unlike their Hitman games Kane amp Lynch Dead Men played as a linear cooperative gameplay focused third person shooter as opposed to Hitman s sandbox solo stealth gameplay 30 Released in November 2007 31 the game gained mixed reviews wherein some reviewers felt like the game had a disconnect with modern gameplay styles 32 On 11 April 2008 four of IO Interactive s co founders Vorsholt Jorgensen Pollas Andersen and Guldbrandsen announced that they had together with former Eidos Interactive executive producer Neil Donnell reformed Reto Moto as an active developer 33 Guldbrandsen and Donnell became chief technology officer and chief executive officer respectively 34 Six further IO Interactive employees followed to Reto Moto in December that year 35 Co founder and at the time managing director Flosser left the company in April 2008 and was succeeded by Niels Jorgensen who had joined the company in 2002 36 In January 2009 Eidos Interactive announced IO Interactive developed Mini Ninjas a family friendly game as opposed to all of the studio s previous titles 37 Jorgensen explained that using Mini Ninjas the studio wanted to reach a broader demographic in the gaming market 6 Shortly after the announcement of Mini Ninjas in April 2009 Eidos Interactive was acquired by Japanese video game conglomerate Square Enix for 84 3 million 38 Eidos Interactive was reorganised over the course of 2009 and became known as Square Enix Europe in November that year 39 Square Enix Europe continued to oversee their previously owned development studios including IO Interactive 40 Speaking for IO Interactive Karsten Lund stated that the studio experienced no loss of freedom following the buyout 41 A sequel to Kane amp Lynch Dead Men titled Kane amp Lynch 2 Dog Days was announced in November 2009 42 and released in August 2010 43 Critics found that most elements in the game had deliberately been made ugly to better fit into the well told story of the game 44 In a November 2009 interview with gaming website Gamasutra Jorgensen revealed that due to the high costs associated with living in Scandinavia much of the company s graphic department had been outsourced to Shanghai 6 The Chinese office had been set up by two Danish representatives from IO Interactive with one Dane permanently residing in Shanghai to look over the outsourcing progress 6 In March 2010 35 of previously 200 employees were let go from the company 45 46 A further 30 people were laid off in November that year supposedly due to the cancellation of a project that was in development for Microsoft 47 Return to Hitman 2011 2016 edit In May 2011 IO Interactive and Square Enix announced that they would be returning to the Hitman franchise through a new entry Hitman Absolution 48 49 A spin off demo Hitman Sniper Challenge was released in May 2012 50 Absolution was released in November that year 51 and like Blood Money saw highly positive reception from critics 52 However many fans of the series including the developers at IO Interactive felt like Absolution was leaning too far into the mainstream as a result of which they were losing their core player base 53 In February 2012 Square Enix opened a new Copenhagen office under the IO Interactive name 54 The following March this new office was announced to be Hapti co a subsidiary studio focused on mobile games 55 Hapti co was sold to Wargaming Mobile the mobile games division of publisher Wargaming in September 2017 and was renamed as Wargaming Copenhagen 56 In June 2013 70 staff members half of IO Interactive s workforce at the time were made redundant due to internal adjustments to face the challenges of today s market 57 58 Square Enix announced that from that point on IO Interactive would exclusively focus on the development of new entries in the Hitman franchise 59 At the same time Hannes Seifert who for the past three years had held the position of production director at IO Interactive took over the company s management as studio head 60 At a June 2015 press conference Sony announced that a new game in the Hitman series simply titled Hitman had been slated for a December 2015 release 61 The game was shortly delayed to March 2016 62 and later announced to be released in an episodic model 63 As such starting in March 2016 the first season for the game was released through six episodes the last of which was released in October 2016 64 Around the same time Ryan Barnard previously director of the game The Division left Massive Entertainment to join IO Interactive 65 At the time IO Interactive had 170 employees 66 and was the largest video game developer in Denmark 67 Management buyout further Hitman games Project 007 2017 present edit Seifert announced in February 2017 that he had left IO Interactive to return to his home country of Austria to pursue an unannounced project 68 Hakan B Abrak also formerly production director for the studio took over his duties becoming chief executive officer 69 70 In May 2017 Square Enix announced that they had withdrawn funding from IO Interactive and would begin negotiating with potential investors that would want to purchase the studio 71 Several jobs were cut at IO Interactive shortly following that announcement 72 73 On 16 June 2017 IO Interactive announced that it had performed a management buyout as a result of which they became independent 74 75 Square Enix retained a minor financial stake in IO Interactive 76 The buyout also included the intellectual property IP for Hitman and Freedom Fighters but lacked that of Kane amp Lynch and Mini Ninjas 77 78 79 Yosuke Matsuda president and chief executive officer of Square Enix at the time stated that the company s decision to divest itself of IO Interactive alongside Hitman was made because they felt like the series needed to go on but would be in better hands with another partner or with IO Interactive itself 80 81 IO Interactive s associate director Eskil Mohl said that when Square Enix decided to withdraw from the studio they were already working on Hitman 2 and the job cuts were a necessary step to make sure that the studio would remain viable without Square Enix s backing Mohl felt that this helped harden the studio to make Hitman 2 a stronger game 82 IO Interactive confirmed shortly after the split that all profits from 2016 s Hitman would from that point go directly to the studio 83 In August that year the studio confirmed that another Hitman game was in development 84 In April 2018 IO Interactive partnered with Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment WBIE to distribute a Definitive Edition of 2016 s Hitman which was released in the following month 85 86 In June 2018 IO Interactive announced Hitman 2 87 Unlike 2016 s Hitman Hitman 2 does not feature an episodic release format 88 Published by WBIE Hitman 2 was released in November that year 89 On 16 January 2019 IO Interactive opened a subsidiary studio IOI Malmo in Malmo Sweden 90 IO Interactive continued its partnership with WBIE and by October 2019 had turned it into a multi IP deal 91 In June 2020 IO Interactive announced Hitman 3 the conclusion to their World of Assassination trilogy which was released on 20 January 2021 for Windows computers and current and next gen consoles with IO publishing the game themselves 92 In November 2020 the company announced Project 007 an original James Bond video game working closely with licensors MGM and Eon Productions 93 94 IO studio director Hakan Abrak said they had spent about two years in preparing a pitch to the Bond license holders knowing that the current rights holders Barbara Broccoli and Michael G Wilson were dissatisfied with the amount of violence in past Bond video games IO s Bond will be a wholly original character and not use any of the film actors likenesses and Abrak anticipates that this game would be the start of a trilogy of Bond games 95 Abrak expected that the game would require them to double their current staff of 200 employees to 400 by the time the first Bond game is released 96 IOI Barcelona based in Barcelona Spain was announced in April 2021 The studio is to assist IOI on its active projects including Hitman and Project 007 game 97 In February 2023 IO Interactive announced Project Fantasy this new IP is set to be an online fantasy RPG a departure from IO s Hitman games 98 IOI Brighton in Brighton England was announced by the company in July 2023 The studio initially will support IO s Project 007 Project Fantasy and Hitman 99 Games developed editYear Title Platform s Publisher s 2000 Hitman Codename 47 Microsoft Windows Eidos Interactive 2002 Hitman 2 Silent Assassin GameCube Microsoft Windows PlayStation 2 Xbox 2003 Freedom Fighters GameCube Microsoft Windows PlayStation 2 Xbox Electronic Arts 2004 Hitman Contracts Microsoft Windows PlayStation 2 Xbox Eidos Interactive 2006 Hitman Blood Money Microsoft Windows PlayStation 2 Xbox Xbox 360 2007 Kane amp Lynch Dead Men Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 2009 Mini Ninjas macOS Microsoft Windows Nintendo DS PlayStation 3 Wii Xbox 360 Eidos Interactive Feral Interactive 2010 Kane amp Lynch 2 Dog Days Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 Square Enix 2012 Hitman Absolution macOS Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 Xbox 360 Square Enix Feral Interactive 2016 Hitman Linux macOS Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Stadia Xbox One 2018 Hitman 2 Microsoft Windows PlayStation 4 Stadia Xbox One Warner Bros Interactive Entertainment 2021 Hitman 3 Microsoft Windows Nintendo Switch PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Stadia Xbox One Xbox Series X S IO Interactive TBA Project 007 working title TBA TBA Project Fantasy 100 working title TBA Cancelled games edit Rex Dominus Unannounced game for Microsoft 2009 Glacier edit Glacier is a proprietary in house game engine developed for the Hitman series Freedom Fighters the Kane amp Lynch series and Mini Ninjas 101 Glacier supports DLSS 102 XeSS 103 and FSR 104 simultaneously The engine supports ray tracing in Hitman 3 102 Eidos Montreal licensed Glacier for their own in house engine Dawn Engine 105 References edit IO Interactive A S Annual report 2021 22 PDF 8 August 2022 Retrieved 9 May 2023 Dobson Jason 11 April 2008 Former Hitman Kane and Lynch creators launch Reto Moto Engadget Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Sinclair Brendan 11 April 2008 Hitman devs go solo with Reto Moto GameSpot Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 IO Interactive A S Virk Archived from the original on 22 September 2019 Retrieved 22 September 2019 a b c d Hitman solgt til England Hitman sold to England Berlingske Business in Danish 4 March 2004 Archived from the original on 27 May 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 a b c d e f g h i Puha Thomas 18 November 2009 Q amp A The Then And Now of Hitman Dev IO Interactive Gamasutra Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 a b c d e f g h i j Love Edward 17 May 2018 The Making Of Hitman Codename 47 Retro Gamer No 181 Future Publishing pp 86 89 Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 a b c Reilly Luke 18 February 2013 Killing Them Softly The Hitman Story Part 1 IGN Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 McLaughlin Rus 1 October 2012 IGN Presents The History of Hitman IGN Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Walker Trey 4 October 2001 Hitman 2 Silent Assassin announced GameSpot Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Walker Trey 17 May 2006 Hitman 2 delayed GameSpot Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Parker Sam 30 September 2002 Hitman 2 goes gold GameSpot Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Kasavin Greg 8 October 2002 Hitman 2 Silent Assassin Review GameSpot Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Calvert Justin 31 October 2002 Hitman 2 announced for the GameCube GameSpot Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Adams David 1 October 2003 Freedom Fighters Ships IGN Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Park Andrew 21 May 2002 E3 2002 Freedom The Battle for Liberty Island announced GameSpot Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Cullen Johnny 15 January 2010 IO gives no comment to Freedom Fighters 2 VG247 Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Fahey Rob 4 March 2004 Eidos acquires Hitman developer as profits rise GamesIndustry biz Archived from the original on 22 September 2019 Retrieved 22 September 2019 Calvert Justin 4 March 2004 Eidos announces results and acquisition of Io Interactive GameSpot Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Portraet Flygtningen og forretningsmanden Flosser Portrait The refugee and businessman Flosser Berlingske Business in Danish 4 March 2004 Archived from the original on 14 July 2018 Retrieved 14 July 2018 Torres Ricardo 7 April 2004 Hitman Contracts Update GameSpot Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Reilly Luke 24 February 2013 Killing Them Softly The Hitman Story Part 2 IGN Archived from the 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Lynch Hands on IGN Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Bramwell Tom 27 September 2007 Kane amp Lynch dated Eurogamer Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Brudvig Erik 26 November 2007 Kane amp Lynch Dead Men Review IGN Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Faylor Chris 14 April 2008 Hitman Veterans Leave IO Form Reto Moto Shacknews Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Kumar Mathew 11 April 2008 IO Interactive Founders Reform Reto Moto Gamasutra Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Freeman Will 12 December 2008 More IO Interactive employees join Reto Moto MCV Archived from the original on 22 September 2019 Retrieved 22 September 2019 Devantier Nicolai 16 April 2008 Janos Flosser forlader IO Interactive Janos Flosser leaves IO Interactive Computerworld dk in Danish Archived from the original on 26 August 2018 Retrieved 25 August 2018 Purchese Robert 19 January 2009 Eidos unveils new Mini Ninjas game Eurogamer Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Gamespot Staff 25 April 2009 Square Enix closes on Eidos Final Fantasy sells 85 million GameSpot Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Sliwinski Alexander 10 November 2009 Goodbye Eidos hello Square Enix Europe Engadget Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Elliott Phil 10 November 2009 Square Enix confirms European identity GamesIndustry biz Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Cullen Johnny 15 January 2010 No loss of freedom after Eidos Square Enix takeover says IO VG247 Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 O Connor Alice 18 November 2009 Kane amp Lynch 2 Dog Days Announced Shacknews Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Brudvig Erik 17 March 2010 Kane amp Lynch 2 Release Date IGN Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Lane Rick 13 May 2018 Kane amp Lynch 2 is nasty pointless and well worth playing Eurogamer Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Graft Kris 29 March 2010 Report IO Interactive Makes Round Of Layoffs Gamasutra Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Leahy Brian 30 March 2010 Layoffs Hit Hitman Developer IO Interactive Shacknews Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Leahy Brian 1 November 2010 IO Interactive Lays Off 30 Rumored to be Due to Canceled Microsoft Project Shacknews Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Gilbert Henry 11 May 2011 Hitman Absolution officially announced for 2012 with painfully vague teaser GamesRadar Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Parfitt Ben 11 May 2011 Hitman Absolution announced MCV Archived from the original on 22 September 2019 Retrieved 22 September 2019 Gera Emily 10 May 2012 Hitman Absolution out November 20 Sniper Challenge announced Polygon Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Yin Poole Wesley 10 May 2012 Hitman Absolution release date announced Eurogamer Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Reilly Luke 18 November 2012 Hitman Absolution Review IGN Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Williams Mike 18 March 2017 Hitman Season One Looking Back With Creative Director Christian Elverdam USgamer Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Kristiansen Jesper Krogh 21 February 2012 IO abner nyt studie i Kobenhavn IO opens new studio in Copenhagen Eurogamer dk in Danish Archived from the original on 17 December 2018 Retrieved 17 December 2018 West Kristian 14 March 2012 Nyt spilstudie i Kobenhavn soger folk New gaming studio in Copenhagen is looking for people Eurogamer dk in Danish Archived from the original on 17 December 2018 Retrieved 17 December 2018 Cleaver Sean 8 September 2017 Wargaming Mobile acquire Danish studio Hapti co MCV Archived from the original on 22 September 2019 Retrieved 22 September 2019 Matulef Jeffrey 17 June 2013 IO Interactive cancels everything that isn t Hitman including Kane amp Lynch Eurogamer Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Scammell David 25 June 2013 IO Interactive redundancies affect around 70 VideoGamer com Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Orry James 17 June 2013 IO Interactive halves workforce will focus only on Hitman franchise VideoGamer com Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Campbell Colin 17 June 2013 Io Interactive lays off almost half its staff focusing on Hitman update Polygon Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Albert Brian 15 June 2015 E3 2015 Next Hitman Announced at Sony Conference IGN Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Matulef Jeffrey 22 September 2015 Hitman delayed until March 2016 Eurogamer Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 McWhertor Michael 14 January 2016 Hitman changes release structure again now fully episodic Polygon Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Nunneley Stephany 12 October 2016 Hitman Episode 6 Hokkaido is the Season Finale and out later this month VG247 Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Matulef Jeffrey 21 March 2016 The Division director joins Hitman developer Io Interactive Eurogamer Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Jarvis Matthew 18 March 2016 The Division director jumps ship to IO Interactive MCV Archived from the original on 22 September 2019 Retrieved 22 September 2019 Breinstrup Thomas 11 May 2017 Japanske ejere sparker benene vaek under dansk spilgigant Japanese owners kick their legs away under the Danish gaming giant Berlingske Business in Danish Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Batchelor James 23 February 2017 IO Interactive names new studio head GamesIndustry biz Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Kerr Chris 23 February 2017 IO Interactive studio head leaves Hitman dev after seven years Gamasutra Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Devore Jordan 26 May 2018 Agent 47 is bald because hair was just too difficult Destructoid Archived from the original on 22 September 2019 Retrieved 22 September 2019 Sarkar Samit 11 May 2017 Square Enix drops Hitman developer IO Interactive Polygon Archived from the original on 31 August 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Batchelor James 23 May 2017 Jobs lost at IO Interactive as Square Enix searches for buyer GamesIndustry biz Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 Retrieved 10 June 2018 Frank Allegra 23 May 2017 Hitman studio IO Interactive cuts down on staff Polygon Archived from the original on 12 June 2018 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Interactive for new game GamesIndustry biz Archived from the original on 10 October 2019 Retrieved 11 October 2019 Announcing HITMAN 3 IO Interactive 11 June 2020 Archived from the original on 2 August 2020 Retrieved 11 June 2020 Skrebels Joe 19 November 2020 Hitman Developer Announces New Bond Game Project 007 IGN Archived from the original on 19 November 2020 Retrieved 19 November 2020 Phillips Tom 19 November 2020 Hitman developer IO is making a James Bond game Eurogamer Archived from the original on 19 November 2020 Retrieved 19 November 2020 Calvin Alex 26 January 2021 IO reckons its Bond game could be start of a trilogy VG247 Archived from the original on 26 January 2021 Retrieved 26 January 2021 Oloman Jordan 26 January 2021 Hitman Developer s James Bond Won t Be Based on Any Previous Actor IGN Archived from the original on 26 January 2021 Retrieved 26 January 2021 Kerr Chris 16 April 2021 Hitman and Project 007 developer IO Interactive opens Barcelona studio Gamasutra Archived from the original on 16 April 2021 Retrieved 16 April 2021 Project Fantasy ioi dk Retrieved 1 March 2023 Ivan Tom 6 July 2023 Hitman developer IO Interactive has opened a studio in England Video Games Chronicle Retrieved 6 July 2023 Project Fantasy Assets and Entities in the Glacier 2 Engine Maurizio de Pascale Technical Director IO Interactive YouTube a b CES 2022 NVIDIA RTX Coming to 10 More Games Including the Day Before Rainbow Six Extraction amp Escape from Tarkov Intel Arc Xe Super Sampling Intel Super resolution amd com How the Dawn Engine is powering the next wave of Deus Ex games MCV 11 February 2015 External links editOfficial website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title IO Interactive amp oldid 1219934661, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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