007: First Light. Project Fantasy. MindsEye. IO Interactive has a lot going on in the coming days, months, and years. But one key franchise of theirs has been conspicuously quiet: Hitman.
It’s not that IOI is doing nothing with Hitman — it did just announce that a co-op mode is in the works for the games and Mads Mikkelsen will reprise his iconic Casino Royale role as an Elusive Target. But as for new Hitman games, the franchise has officially been on hiatus since 2023. Updates aside, it seems like IOI might be getting a touch too busy to give Agent 47 more major work.
So I asked Hakan Abrak, CEO of IO Interactive, if that was the case when we sat down for an interview this past weekend following the reveal of 007: First Light. And he reassured me that Agent 47 was still on active duty.
“The Hitman series is definitely not done,” Abrak said. “We’re not done with Hitman. IO has been synonymous with Hitman, despite the other IPs we have done. We absolutely are proud, grateful, and happy with Hitman. But obviously doing another new IP, Project Fantasy, and doing Bond, it takes a lot of our resources and time. But as you saw, we announced the Hitman co-op, which is a big dream of mine. And they will be maybe in different shapes, but they will definitely be more Hitman in the future.”
My question to Abrak was sparked by our prior discussion of the differences between Agent 47 and James Bond. Though IO Interactive’s espionage pedigree is certainly what led to the studio being trusted with the Bond license [to kill], the two heroes are quite different in practice. Bond leans more toward action, with Agent 47 preferring stealth and disguise. And while Bond certainly has a classy sense of humor, the Hitman games are renowned for being… well, pretty silly! Agent 47 dresses up in a flamingo mascot suit at one point, for Pete’s sake.
So will 007: First Light still have that Hitman flavor? Yes, said Abrak, but it will have a tone all its own.
“It is very, very important to get the humor right. In Denmark, we love dark humor and the silliness because it takes away from the seriousness of being an assassin. Bond is different. Bond, the humor is first of all very British. And the humor there is to support the energy and his personality, which is much more front and center. So I would say less silly. It’s not flamingo disguises, as you said, but still entertaining.”
Abrak continued: “And it’s a game that plays differently. It’s emphasizing more action, for sure. And the structure of Bond is more like it’s breathing more. Like there are more linear parts where you have the spectacle moments and exotic vehicles. And then we also give space in Bond to open up a bit and breathe a bit. So you have definitely glimpses of IO Interactive, as you would know from Hitman games as well, but it’s more front foot. It’s less of an analytical mind, chess play, where you sit and meticulously plan. All the clockwork things in Hitman where if you do this or do this, where Bond is more impulsive, more reckless sometimes. It’s more like he’s just taking things and acting and handling it more as they arise.
“So it’s a different dynamism, because we want to make something that feels true for a Bond fantasy. So it’s definitely not a re-skin of a Hitman kind of thing, but I feel that people will see IO Interactive, that is a game made by Interactive, but they will also see that this game is something else. It’s something that’s true to what we are hopefully going to deliver 360, an ultimate Bond experience.”
We’ll be publishing our full interview with Abrak later this week, including discussion of not just Hitman, but also 007: First Light and upcoming IO Interactive-published game MindsEye.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to [email protected].
