Future of Hitman games in doubt as Square Enix looks to offload IO Interactive

[midian182]

The episodic reboot of the Hitman series was met with mostly positive reviews last year, but it seems that wasn’t enough to satisfy Square Enix. The Japanese games giant, which took over developer IO Interactive when it bought parent company Eidos Interactive in 2009, has decided to sell the Danish studio, which could spell trouble for the long-running stealth games.

In an investor’s note yesterday, Square Enix warned of an “extraordinary loss” totaling $43 million within its last financial year. The loss is caused by the planned sale of IO Interactive.

"To maximize player satisfaction as well as market potential going forward, we are focusing our resources and energies on key franchises and studios. As a result, the Company has regrettably decided to withdraw from the business of IO INTERACTIVE A/S, a wholly‐owned subsidiary and a Danish corporation, as of March 31, 2017," Square Enix wrote in a statement.

The company is now in talks with potential new buyers to secure the investment, but the wording of the statement suggests that if someone is not found, IO Interactive will be closed.

The news comes as a surprise, particularly since Square Enix posted record year-on-year profits in its most recent financial results.

What this all means for Hitman is unclear, but it certainly throws the second season of the game into doubt.

The move follows Square Enix’s decision to put the Deus Ex games on hiatus after disappointing sales of 2016’s Mankind Divided. The company will now be concentrating on its multi-game Marvel project and the next Tomb Raider.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/69277-future-hitman-games-doubt-square-enix-looks-offload.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Sadly enough, I won't miss this one. Since there last attempt to extort more and more money from loyal players, the game has become just another money pit. It's certainly not the first time a company has tried this, but once again they are experiencing the backlash from clients that not longer buy the "it's so expensive to produce" or "it takes so long between new games" as a justifiable excuse for gouging us all. Maybe somebody with a lot more common sense will buy it out and return to the days of a reasonable profit over a long series of games .....

 

[Billybobjoey]

Surprising. Even though people didn't like the whole "Episodic" thing for Hitman, I heard it still did pretty well. Although the new Deus Ex got mixed reviews, I enjoyed it, and it's a shame that these IPs will most likely end here.

 

[BSim500]

^ If they want people more "excited", maybe they should consider making exciting new games? I loved 80's-90's action movies, but would be thoroughly sick of The Matrix 17, Predator 12, Die Hard 34, etc, courtesy of their 'buy someone else's 90's franchise, sequel it to death long past its peak, then whine and sulk when people lose interest after 15-20 years of milking'" business model by now...

 

[Rockstarrrr]

^ If they want people more "excited", maybe they should consider making exciting new games? I loved 80's-90's action movies, but would be thoroughly sick of The Matrix 17, Predator 12, Die Hard 34, etc, courtesy of their 'buy someone else's 90's franchise, sequel it to death long past its peak, then whine and sulk when people lose interest after 15-20 years of milking'" business model by now...

Why? GTA is doing just fine and its the same game since 2002. No, the truth is that market demands more "noob-friendly" games. Just watch as CoD WW2 outsells everything.

 

[erickmendes]

"The company will now be concentrating on its multi-game Marvel project and the next Tomb Raider."

I never played a Hitman game, but I still found them compelling, just my gaming time is shrinking year after year...
Deus Ex I played some hour of the title before the actual, and I really enjoyed and will take sometime to spent on Mankind Divided some point in time...

Now they will focus on Marvel games ...? Who the fack have this awsome idea? Sure I like the movies, but I don't want another crap superhero movie based game... Deus Ex and Tomb Raider are rich game IPs... Marvel based video games are just another tit to milk from this titanic cow... Most superhero movie based games suck REALLY hard... wt fack are Square thinking?