IO Interactive CEO Reveals Surprising Cost Cuts Behind Hitman Series
"I was the executive producer on Hitman: Absolution, and I swore never to do more new toilets."
Hitman
IO Interactive's journey is both quite inspiring and unique. After Square Enix ended funding in 2017, the studio didn't just survive, it has grown to include four international studios, moved into self-publishing, secured the James Bond license, gained support for a new original fantasy IP, and even started publishing games from other developers.
While many game series grow more expensive with each sequel, the Hitman: World of Assassination trilogy avoided that, a rare move in today's industry of rising costs and intense competition. In a recent episode of The Game Business Show podcast, IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak shared how they managed to save money, revealing that reusing assets during development made things much cheaper in the long term:
"I was the executive producer on Hitman: Absolution, and I swore never to do more new toilets. We were just doing new everything. It was just a throwaway. When we were doing the initial foundation on Hitman 2016, we built it in a way where we would do smart reuse."
Hitman
Hitman
Reusing assets is nothing new in game development, but it seems IO Interactive was especially efficient in building the Hitman trilogy's worlds, something Abrak illustrated with concrete numbers:
"Without being too precise, Hitman 2016… let's say it was a $100 million game. Hitman 2 was maybe $60 million. Hitman 3 was $20 million. And Hitman 3 was the highest on Metacritic. It was 85, 84, and 87 on Metacritic. And it had very unique new locations."
Although IO Interactive is currently focused on the James Bond title 007 First Light, the studio continues to explore new gameplay ideas for the Hitman series and regularly updates Hitman: World of Assassination, including the recently announced exciting new co-op mode.
Learn about the studio's live-service strategy for single-player games, 007 First Light, and more from Hakan Abrak here. Also, join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.
