IO Interactive’s journey is both quite inspiring and unique. After Square Enix ended funding in 2017, the studio didn’t just survive, it has grown to include four international studios, moved into self-publishing, secured the James Bond license, gained support for a new original fantasy IP, and even started publishing games from other developers.
While many game series grow more expensive with each sequel, the Hitman: World of Assassination trilogy avoided that, a rare move in today’s industry of rising costs and intense competition. In a recent episode of The Game Business Show podcast, IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak shared how they managed to save money, revealing that reusing assets during development made things much cheaper in the long term:
