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io Interactive is an independent studio with rights to the Hitman IP

Developer io Interactive has today confirmed it is the owner of the Hitman IP.

The now independent studio made confirmation of its acquisition over on its blog.

“I am proud to announce today that IOI is now officially an independent studio,” wrote Hakan Abrak. “We have successfully concluded our negotiations with Square Enix and have agreed to a management buyout. Crucially, we will keep all of the rights to the Hitman IP.

“This is a watershed moment for IOI. As of today, we have complete control over the direction for our studio and the Hitman IP – we’re about to forge our own future and it’s incredibly exciting. We are now open to opportunities with future collaborators and partners to help strengthen us as a studio and ensure that we can produce the best games possible for our community.”

While io’s other big franchise, Kane & Lynch, was mentioned, io didn’t say it was also purchased from publisher Square Enix.

Back in May, Square Enix said it was to withdraw from io Interactive. io recently detailed how digital purchasing options for Hitman would change.

Hitman is currently available on Windows PC, Xbox One and PS4.


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Steve Wright

Steve's the owner and Editor-in-Chief of Stevivor.com, the country’s leading independent video games outlet. Steve arrived in Australia back in 2001 on what was meant to be a three-month working holiday before deciding to emigrate and, eventually, becoming a citizen.

Stevivor is a combination of ‘Steve’ and ‘Survivor’, which made more sense back in 2001 when Jeff Probst was up in Queensland. The site started as Steve’s travel blog before transitioning over into video games.

Aside from video games, Steve has interests in hockey and Star Trek, playing the former and helping to cover video games about the latter on TrekMovie.com. By day, Steve works as the communications manager of the peak body representing Victorians as they age.