According to an interview that IO Interactive studio head Niels Jorensen gave to Gamasutra, after the completion of Hitman: Absolution in 2012, IO will work on creating a new IP. Unfortunately, no details have emerged on what this IP will be.
Jorensen stated that after Absolution part of the team will movie to Square-Enix Montreal to work on a new Hitman game for the next-gen crowd and the rest of IO will begin creating a new IP.
A Square-Enix rep also told Gamasutra that additionally, IO will work on another Hitman project separate to the one which Square-Enix Montreal will be working on. It seems like an “absolute” that the Hitman franchise is far from over (I’m so sorry).
Jorensen went on to say:
When people work on the same IP for some time, I believe that there’s a sort of creative drain. Thankfully we managed to make sure we keep focusing on different IPs and keeping people fresh. We’ve built an incubation department whose focus is work on new IP and prototypes, and all sorts of things for existing and new IP. And that’s a really interesting sort of secret place where they cook up a lot of new things.
This will mark yet another attempt for IO to whip out a new brand on the public. In 2007 IO Interactive released Kane & Lynch: Dead Men and followed up with Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days in 2010, both with less-than-hopeful results. In between the vulgar Kane & Lynch titles, IO released Mini Ninjas which, while well-received, has never had any word of a sequel.
At the very least, it’s good to see IO has plans for the future be it something new or something familiar. Hitman: Absolution is set for a 2012 release for Windows, PS3 and Xbox 360.
