IO splitting focus, tackling new IP after Hitman: Absolution

IO Interactive, the studio that's steered the Hitman franchise since the beginning, will take one hand off the wheel and gulp a new IP Slurpee after Hitman: Absolution ships. Speaking to Gamasutra, studio honcho Niels Jorgensen says that the IO team will split focus, collaborating on a new Hitman with the Square Enix studio in Montreal while working on a new IP.

Jorgensen has very little to share about the new IP, but does say that it'll be somewhat in line with IO's DNA of dark humor and antiheroes. Hopefully, IO can find a happy medium between the stylish seriousness of Hitman and the sub-par vulgarity of Kane and Lynch.

Three of IO's employees will move from Copenhagen to Montreal to direct the team and assist in communications between the two studios, developing a game that's "faithful to the Hitman experience."