It’s only been eight days since Hitman 3 was released, but the final installment of IO Interactive’s Agent 47 reboot has already turned out to be a smashing success. IO CEO Hakan Abrak recently spoke with GamesIndustry.biz and revealed that the critically acclaimed stealth title managed to recoup its total development costs in less than a week following its release on January 20. The achievement makes Hitman 3 one of the most successful games in the entire franchise, which began all the way back in 2000 with IO’s original Hitman title, Codename 47.
“It has been a labor of love between our fans and everyone at the studio,” Abrak said. “As the developer and publisher, we are immensely proud that we can say Hitman 3 is already profitable. We have recouped the total project costs in less than a week. That puts us in a really good place and allows us to confidently move forward with our ambitious plans for future projects.”
Abrak goes on to discuss the implications of Hitman 3 being IO Interactive’s first self-published title and how much of a benefit it was to be able to keep its marketing and PR departments within the same inner circle as the development team.
“We’ve been able to create a game that our players will love and bring it to them in the most direct way possible; developed and published by IOI,” Abrak explained. “Having that focus early on has kept us on a path that we all believed in. Everyone at the studio was behind the vision for the game and they know the Hitman universe better than anyone.”
“That combination makes us very effective as a publisher because we have our creative and development teams working closely with publishing and marketing throughout the entire project. We need that collaboration because we all want to create a quality product.”
The news suggests that IO Interactive’s next potential hit, Project 007, will be a tightly knit and equally quality venture that should do both Hitman and James Bond fans proud. As noted by Abrak in a separate interview, Project 007 will star an entirely original Bond that isn’t based on Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, or any of the other legendary actors who have brought the British secret agent to life over the course of the franchise’s cinematic history.