IO and Eidos Collaboration on Hitman Shows Ambition for the Franchise

IO Interactive is busy putting the finishing touches on Hitman: Absolution, which is set to be launched during 2012, but at the same time the studio is busy creating the foundations for a good collaborative effort with Eidos Montreal for the next game in the series.

Speaking to Gamasutra Niels Jorgensen, who is the leader of the IO Interactive studio, has stated, “We have very ambitious plans for Hitman. We really look forward to having a close partnership with the Montreal studio.”

The developer believes that having multiple studios work on the same game project is inevitable, adding, "It's a natural step for any ambitious IP. I think it shows the ambition level, but the way I look at it is a very natural evolution. I think the amount of manpower you need to provide to a game in order to achieve AAA quality is definitely growing.”

Jorgensen believes that the biggest challenge is keeping the quality of a franchise, like Hitman, up over the long term while launching games frequently in order to keep players loyal.

While working with Eidos Montreal on a new Hitman game IO Interactive is also creating a new intellectual property in-house, hoping to use some familiar elements for the developer, like humor and dark heroes, but create new mechanics for their delivery.

Hitman: Absolution will once again put players in control of Agent 47 and will mix well-known gameplay concepts with some new mechanics.

The emphasis will still be on stealth movement and elaborate kills but players will also be able to use traps and a tag-and-kill system that is similar to that used in Red Dead Redemption is set to be implemented.

Hitman: Absolution will be playable on the PlayStation 3 from Sony, the Xbox 360 from Microsoft and the PC and the launch date is not yet set in stone.