The developer of the Hitman series as well as the Kane & Lynch games, IO Interactive, has announced the opening of a new studio. IOI Barcelona, as it is known, joins IOI Copenhagen and IOI Malmo as the third studio under the umbrella of IO Interactive.
IO Interactive started life in Copenhagen back in 1998 and was previously owned by Square Enix until a management buyout in 2017. The studio has been independent since then, adding IOI Malmo to the developer's studio list in 2019 and producing Hitman 3 this past January.
The announcement states that this studio is located in the heart of the city of Barcelona and will work on equal terms and in tandem with the other two. The three studios are set to work cooperatively on the developer's ongoing projects and universes, including the well-known Hitman series, Project 007 (a planned James Bond video game), as well as an unannounced new IP. IO Interactive states that this studio's team is already in place as of the announcement and that it will be a key piece to the video game developer's long term plans. This news comes shortly after the release of Hitman 3 back in January of this year.
This news likely bodes well for fans of IO Interactive as a third studio was quite unthinkable just a handful of years ago. When Square Enix announced the conclusion of its dealings with IO, the developer was left in a limbo-like state. The management buy-out has led to general success in both games-released and now through the addition of two studios. Its latest release, Hitman 3, has seen great success from favorable reviews to higher launch sales than the previous Hitman 2.
The success of Hitman 3 was reason enough for IO fans to be pleased but the addition of a studio in Barcelona has given them an overwhelming reason to celebrate. IO Barcelona will likely greatly benefit the developer's planned future titles and should ease the burden the other studios have had to take on thus far. The uncertainty of 2017 seems like ages ago now and that is only good news for IO and their fans.
However, the formula has already proven to be a success for IO Interactive. IOI Copenhagen and IOI Malmo have produced a great game in Hitman 3 and the team at the new studio remains an unknown quantity. Noting that, though, the move is likely only to benefit the growing developer whose long-term vision includes more games and fresh IPs.