Hitman developer IO Interactive opens a new Brighton studio

The developer behind the Hitman franchise has opened a brand new studio in Brighton, England to work on all of its ongoing projects.

The details:

• IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak announced the opening of the studio in a new press release revealing that it will make “significant contributions” alongside the company’s other studios to the development and publishing of its James Bond project Project 007, its online fantasy RPG Project Fantasy, and ongoing support of Hitman. "The studio is for all projects," he told gamesindustry.biz. "We are working a bit differently compared to other companies. They're more like 'this studio is working on this project' or 'this studio is doing some elements of this project'. Across our studios, our projects are front and centre. Which means anybody, regardless of what studio or country they're working from, they can work criss-cross on different projects.”
• The independent company currently operates five studios, beginning with its Copenhagen location in 1998. Following that, a studio opened in Malmo in 2019, another in Barcelona in 2021, and a fourth in Istanbul in March 2023. IO considered Leamington Spa, Newcastle, and Edinburgh before settling on Brighton, but chose the coastal location due to its proximity to London and the large number of developers based there. Since all studios work on the same projects as a team, Abrak revealed that IO aims to keep each studio under 150 people to "avoid having that feeling of a factory, which can happen when you've got 500 people in the same place.”
• Project Fantasy, which was announced earlier this year, is a "bold new online fantasy RPG" that will be "built from the core to entertain players and expand for many years to come." IO is also working on Project 007, an original story about iconic secret agent James Bond as he rises through the ranks of MI6, but like Project Fantasy, little is known about it so far. Although Christian Elverdam, the company’s chief creative officer and co-owner, stated that the Hitman series was "on hiatus" to focus on the aforementioned projects, Hitman: World of Assassination would continue to receive new updates and expansions, including new modes and other content.

Other notable gaming news:

• Ubisoft now has 11 Assassin's Creed projects in various stages of development or planned for the near future across multiple studios. The games are a mix of single-player and multiplayer experiences, with a remake of Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag also rumored.
• A Red Dead Redemption remaster or remake may be in the works, according to a reliable source, who claims that Rockstar Games will announce it in August. It was previously speculated that the game would be remade within the engine of its sequel and released on current-generation consoles and PCs, making it the first time the game would be available natively outside of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.