IO Interactive CEO: Hitman 2016 was a $100 million game. Hitman 2 was $60 million. Hitman 3 was $20 million.

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IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman
www.thegamebusiness.com

How Hitman Absolution’s wasteful toilets taught IO Interactive to make sustainable AAA games

Plus! The firm's live-service approach to single-player James Bond
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IO is prudent with its budgets, says CEO Hakan Abrak, and takes a long-term view when it comes to these franchises.

"I was the executive producer on [2012's] Hitman Absolution, and I swore never to do more new toilets. We were just doing new everything. It was just a throwaway. When we were doing the initial foundation on Hitman 2016, we built it in a way where we would do smart reuse.

"Without being too precise, Hitman 2016… let's say it was a $100 million game. Hitman 2 was maybe $60 million. Hitman 3 was $20 million. And Hitman 3 was the highest Metacritic. It was 85, 84, and 87 Metacritic. And it had very unique new locations. Obviously, there's a bigger investment into Bond. It's a more expensive and ambitious product. But the way we build it, the longevity… if we were to look at sequel at one point, who knows? At IO, we have a really, really good way of trying to be efficient. That's extremely important to us."

He added: "With Absolution, we wasted so much. It was a wasteful production. As studio production director back then, I completely changed our thinking. The World of Assassination is a vision that started 13, 14 ago years ago. Building this foundation, the brick system as we call it, where we can make an experience, like [new Hitman mission featuring Mads Mikkelsen] very quickly and efficiently. This was a really part of us creating sustainable AAA production. I'm not going to sit here and say we are doing everything right. We'll keep on trying to improve and be less wasteful, but still super ambitious."
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More publishers and developers should embrace this strategy. Design bold and ambitious systems and then rest on building content for said systems for some time. Hitman is still a top stealth experience and has been for almost 10 years.
 
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And here I am - a Hitman fan since day one - who last tried playing Hitman with Absolution.
I just didn't enjoy the game at all. It felt completely off to me.

I'll give the newer Hitman titles a try, preferably with PSVR2 because after Metro Awakening I'm craving for a good PSVR2 FPS-experience, but I have a feeling the series isn't as gritty and dark as it used to be.
That almost forbidden atmosphere back then was a huge part of what made the games so enjoyable for me.
 
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Kupfer said:
And here I am - a Hitman fan since day one - who last tried playing Hitman with Absolution.
I just didn't enjoy the game at all. It felt completely off to me.

I'll give the newer Hitman titles a try, preferably with PSVR2 because after Metro Awakening I'm craving for a good PSVR2 FPS-experience, but I have a feeling the series isn't as gritty and dark as it used to be.
That almost forbidden atmosphere back then was a huge part of what made the games so enjoyable for me.
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How are you a fan and havent played the new trilogy yet? GTFO
 
Connificent said:
How are you a fan and havent played the new trilogy yet? GTFO
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Read my message again - Fan of the first games; I said it felt different to me, compared to the games I like a lot: Codename 47, Silent Assassin, Contracts, Blood Money. They all had something in common that, in my opinion, Absolution lacked.

I've looked into the newer games a bit (videos), and as I already mentioned, from what I've seen they don't feel like they're part of that same gritty Hitman era from before.
I'm not saying they're bad - that's exactly why I want to give them a try.
I'm just saying the vibe has changed, and that's why I haven't played them yet. But I'm open to being surprised.
 
Smart on their behalf, but it makes sense.

it was always kind of their "10 year" plan to begin with, i'm glad they dropped the episodic releases but i did at the time of the first game enjoy beating each level a million times until the next ep released.

but their philosophy for the game was fantastic and i hope they bring that forward with bond, really nail the engine and ai and gameplay, and then just iterate in ways that count with the sequels.

Hitman world of assassination is an incredible product, i love that each sequel retroactively upgraded and add the previous games, i love that they went beyond and added a roguelike mode and now still a co-op mode to look forward to.

The sleeper hit though were the sniper missions, i wish they added more of those.
 
I don't think he said those numbers because that is what they were but because it was easier to start at 100 to show how costs came down.
 
Never played the first Hitman games....but I really, really like the trilogy! Such a unique game, great quality, great voice acting, interesting story arc, huge replaybility options, Agent47 is just badass.

What I didnt like was all this online service crap...I just dont need this stuff and would have been fine just with the basic games. But even this online stuff, was pretty well made and seems to have lots of fans.
 
Kupfer said:
And here I am - a Hitman fan since day one - who last tried playing Hitman with Absolution.
I just didn't enjoy the game at all. It felt completely off to me.

I'll give the newer Hitman titles a try, preferably with PSVR2 because after Metro Awakening I'm craving for a good PSVR2 FPS-experience, but I have a feeling the series isn't as gritty and dark as it used to be.
That almost forbidden atmosphere back then was a huge part of what made the games so enjoyable for me.
Click to expand...

You are a Hitman fan who hasnt played Hitman'16, Hitman 2'18 or Hitman 3........hell they even packed the games into Hitman World of Assassination Trilogy for you.

Hell Hitman 3 is the best Hitman game to ever come out......yes better than Blood Money, and theres not many long running series where the latest entry is widely considered to be the undisputed king of the series.

Your nostalgia is playing a trick on you if the think the first set of games has better atmosphere/feel or whatever than the latest trilogy or that the first set does anything better than the new ones.
Especially since you didnt even like Absolution, im gonna guess Blood Money or Silent were your favorite.
World of Assassination does everything, and I mean everything better than those games.




Shoutout if Contracts was actually your favorite cuz for me thats the one that kinda lost the plot cuz it took itself too seriously for what was going on in the game universe.
 
That's great and all, but they should find some pennies in those budget for Jesper Kyd, the games are not as good without him.
 
Kupfer said:
And here I am - a Hitman fan since day one - who last tried playing Hitman with Absolution.
I just didn't enjoy the game at all. It felt completely off to me.

I'll give the newer Hitman titles a try, preferably with PSVR2 because after Metro Awakening I'm craving for a good PSVR2 FPS-experience, but I have a feeling the series isn't as gritty and dark as it used to be.
That almost forbidden atmosphere back then was a huge part of what made the games so enjoyable for me.
Click to expand...
New Hitman is much more in line with Blood Money and the original games. The levels are much more open though from what I remember. Definitely give it a go if you're a fan of the series, it's waaaay better than Absolution.
 
Black_Stride said:
You are a Hitman fan who hasnt played Hitman'16, Hitman 2'18 or Hitman 3........hell they even packed the games into Hitman World of Assassination Trilogy for you.

Hell Hitman 3 is the best Hitman game to ever come out......yes better than Blood Money, and theres not many long running series where the latest entry is widely considered to be the undisputed king of the series.

Your nostalgia is playing a trick on you if the think the first set of games has better atmosphere/feel or whatever than the latest trilogy or that the first set does anything better than the new ones.
Especially since you didnt even like Absolution, im gonna guess Blood Money or Silent were your favorite.
World of Assassination does everything, and I mean everything better than those games.




Shoutout if Contracts was actually your favorite cuz for me thats the one that kinda lost the plot cuz it took itself too seriously for what was going on in the game universe.
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Just for The Meat King's Party and Rendezvous in Rotterdam alone, Contracts ranks high on the list.

Lucifers Beard said:
New Hitman is much more in line with Blood Money and the original games. The levels are much more open though from what I remember. Definitely give it a go if you're a fan of the series, it's waaaay better than Absolution.
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Thanks for the comment - one that, for once, doesn't immediately question my perspective or try to imply that I'm an idiot (which I undoubtedly am - just not when it comes to Hitman)

With everything that's been said here, I'm genuinely looking forward to finally diving into the newer titles on PSVR2 soon.
 
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Kupfer said:
Read my message again - Fan of the first games; I said it felt different to me, compared to the games I like a lot: Codename 47, Silent Assassin, Contracts, Blood Money. They all had something in common that, in my opinion, Absolution lacked.

I've looked into the newer games a bit (videos), and as I already mentioned, from what I've seen they don't feel like they're part of that same gritty Hitman era from before.
I'm not saying they're bad - that's exactly why I want to give them a try.
I'm just saying the vibe has changed, and that's why I haven't played them yet. But I'm open to being surprised.
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Yes 47 and Contracts had something in common.....Contracts was a remaster of 47 but without the fun and taking itself way too seriously, the worst of Hitman is when it tries to take itself seriously.
Chill out, we are all in on the joke that is the Hitman series.....when Contracts was trying to be all Dark Knight and shit without remembering what actually goes on in universe then it loses its charm.

Silent, Blood Money and Absolution are all good but atleast they understood they arent meant to be taken super seriously, Blood Money easily the best, followed by Absolution then Silent.
Contracts dont even bother mentioning honestly.

The new Trilogy does everything better than Silent, Blood Money and Absolution easy work, while still having the feel of those games, not taking itself too seriously but at the same time not taking an abslute piss.




The dissonance that Contracts has makes it unintentionally funny because you are like wait what.........are these guys being for real?
 
Kupfer said:
Read my message again - Fan of the first games; I said it felt different to me, compared to the games I like a lot: Codename 47, Silent Assassin, Contracts, Blood Money. They all had something in common that, in my opinion, Absolution lacked.

I've looked into the newer games a bit (videos), and as I already mentioned, from what I've seen they don't feel like they're part of that same gritty Hitman era from before.
I'm not saying they're bad - that's exactly why I want to give them a try.
I'm just saying the vibe has changed, and that's why I haven't played them yet. But I'm open to being surprised.
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I understand you fell off with Absolution. Most did but the new trilogy is a return to old gameplay wise. How can you have not tried already.
 
The worst thing is I dont even know which edition to buy. it's 2025 and its still literally impossible to tell which Hitman edition actually includes all content. IOI has mastered the art of it. You want the full trilogy? Cool. Standard Edition. Oh wait you also want the Hitman 2 expansion maps? Thats another Access Pass. Thinking the Deluxe Edition will save you? Depends on which Deluxe you bought some only include cosmetics, some have 7 Deadly Sins + others just assume you already know whats missing.

So here I am, four purchases deep three Steam guides later and I still don't know if I own the sniper maps or if they're buried under a mislabeled DLC pack somewhere in the store
 
No shit Sherlock. The sequels are built on top of the first game. That's how every competent studio does it.
 
Absolution was a mistake. These 3 are far better games and more replayable as well. Absolution was just cinematic TPS slop.

The 2 sequels reuse a lot of assets from 2016. It makes sense they are cheaper.
 
TVexperto said:
The worst thing is I dont even know which edition to buy. it's 2025 and its still literally impossible to tell which Hitman edition actually includes all content. IOI has mastered the art of it. You want the full trilogy? Cool. Standard Edition. Oh wait you also want the Hitman 2 expansion maps? Thats another Access Pass. Thinking the Deluxe Edition will save you? Depends on which Deluxe you bought some only include cosmetics, some have 7 Deadly Sins + others just assume you already know whats missing.

So here I am, four purchases deep three Steam guides later and I still don't know if I own the sniper maps or if they're buried under a mislabeled DLC pack somewhere in the store
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They pack the standard campaigns in World of Assassination, but they want to cash in on DLC, so you have to get the extra missions and the other stuff seperately. I don't think any pack has all the content.
 
Kupfer said:
Read my message again - Fan of the first games; I said it felt different to me, compared to the games I like a lot: Codename 47, Silent Assassin, Contracts, Blood Money. They all had something in common that, in my opinion, Absolution lacked.

I've looked into the newer games a bit (videos), and as I already mentioned, from what I've seen they don't feel like they're part of that same gritty Hitman era from before.
I'm not saying they're bad - that's exactly why I want to give them a try.
I'm just saying the vibe has changed, and that's why I haven't played them yet. But I'm open to being surprised.
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You said "since" instead of "of" in your first message, but it's whatever to me. Highly recommend the latest trilogy, still play it a lot to this day. All packaged nicely in 1 game nowadays too I think. The only downside now are the confusing packages that are being sold.
 
Kupfer said:
And here I am - a Hitman fan since day one - who last tried playing Hitman with Absolution.
I just didn't enjoy the game at all. It felt completely off to me.

I'll give the newer Hitman titles a try, preferably with PSVR2 because after Metro Awakening I'm craving for a good PSVR2 FPS-experience, but I have a feeling the series isn't as gritty and dark as it used to be.
That almost forbidden atmosphere back then was a huge part of what made the games so enjoyable for me.
Click to expand...
Even IOI themselves admitted they messed up with Absolution, the WOA Trilogy is a return to peak Hitman with a fuck load of content. If you were a fan of the older games then come on, give the new ones a go, they go on sale for cheap too these days.
 
Paasei said:
You said "since" instead of "of" in your first message, but it's whatever to me. Highly recommend the latest trilogy, still play it a lot to this day. All packaged nicely in 1 game nowadays too I think. The only downside now are the confusing packages that are being sold.
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Just get World of Assassination. You can always purchase extra's ingame.

9a865273-8239-491a-9307-b8aef830c633_text.gif
 
Releasing several games of the same IP, either numbered or as an addon, was GaaS before GaaS.
Not every game needs to be something entirely new, with insane dev times, reusing stuff would seem like an obvious path.
Driveclub killed Evolution, but DC2 should have cost much less and might have reached better success with a hopefully working net code from the start. PS Allstars Battle Royal, was not really good, but why not try a second one and fix whatever critics did not like, since it was supposed to be Sony's Smash Bros? Developing Modnation Racer and LBP Karting and then drop both while MK sells like crazy? Last Guardian took forever but another story with maybe a similar but different companion could have followed on a tighter budget. Not everything works out, wrong dev for a project, or often just the wrong time for a release, but sometimes some stuff is abandoned seemingly way too early.

Hitman Absolution was fine too, imho. It added more freedom than the games before had. Especially those before Blood Money were a janky, outright buggy, acquired taste kind of game.
 
If that's the case, then I'm more ok with them making a weird genZ bond. It's certainly not for me and I won't be playing it, but at only 20mil there's probably a sufficient audience for them to play around with it and recoup the dev costs.
 
TVexperto said:
The worst thing is I dont even know which edition to buy. it's 2025 and its still literally impossible to tell which Hitman edition actually includes all content. IOI has mastered the art of it. You want the full trilogy? Cool. Standard Edition. Oh wait you also want the Hitman 2 expansion maps? Thats another Access Pass. Thinking the Deluxe Edition will save you? Depends on which Deluxe you bought some only include cosmetics, some have 7 Deadly Sins + others just assume you already know whats missing.

So here I am, four purchases deep three Steam guides later and I still don't know if I own the sniper maps or if they're buried under a mislabeled DLC pack somewhere in the store
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I'm confused too. Honestly, I think the best way to go is to get the World of Assassination bundle and then (in my case) the PSVR2 access pack.

No idea what other DLCs are still out there that aren't included.
Even ChatGPT seems overwhelmed by all the versions and extra content.

Paasei said:
You said "since" instead of "of" in your first message, but it's whatever to me. Highly recommend the latest trilogy, still play it a lot to this day. All packaged nicely in 1 game nowadays too I think. The only downside now are the confusing packages that are being sold.
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Okay, that was poorly worded, although it makes sense to me - I can be a fan since day one because it includes the old entries, which I'm still a fan of, without being a fan of the new ones - which doesn't make me not a fan of the old ones.
But whatever, nitpicking.
As mentioned above, I'll probably get the PS5 version of WoA and buy the PSVR2 access online.
Am I still missing anything essential? Or is there something like a Complete Edition (physical) ?
 
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Hudo said:
Turns out they'd rather burn money by publishing MindsEye instead.
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I cant imagine they are getting the publishing money back from that deal.
Hopefully the contract involved some guarantees......then again, it doesnt look like they put much effort into actually marketing the game so maybe it was worth having the interns cut up trailers.
 
Lunarorbit said:
If the next hitman is $80 what should fans think?
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Wait for the series to be completed and buy the whole package.
crackajack said:
Releasing several games of the same IP, either numbered or as an addon, was GaaS before GaaS.
Not every game needs to be something entirely new, with insane dev times, reusing stuff would seem like an obvious path.
Driveclub killed Evolution, but DC2 should have cost much less and might have reached better success with a hopefully working net code from the start. PS Allstars Battle Royal, was not really good, but why not try a second one and fix whatever critics did not like, since it was supposed to be Sony's Smash Bros? Developing Modnation Racer and LBP Karting and then drop both while MK sells like crazy? Last Guardian took forever but another story with maybe a similar but different companion could have followed on a tighter budget. Not everything works out, wrong dev for a project, or often just the wrong time for a release, but sometimes some stuff is abandoned seemingly way too early.

Hitman Absolution was fine too, imho. It added more freedom than the games before had. Especially those before Blood Money were a janky, outright buggy, acquired taste kind of game.
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What really killed Evolution is OnRush.....one being a GaaS game right when everyone was really starting to hate GaaS(loot boxes filled with trash honestly), Second being online only(by product of being GaaS), third no actual Racing in a Racing game?
Honorable mention........No PC release.

DriveClub 2 didnt even need to work hard to be great.

Just release with updated cars/tracks, the shaders that were created for DriveClub are insane to this day, funny that the author of them now works at Criterion so im expecting the next major Criterion release to look absolutely phenomenal.

andrew-bolt-photo0094.jpg



andrew-bolt-vehicleshader.jpg
 
Kupfer said:
Okay, that was poorly worded, although it makes sense to me - I can be a fan since day one because it includes the old entries, which I'm still a fan of, without being a fan of the new ones - which doesn't make me not a fan of the old ones.
But whatever, nitpicking.
As mentioned above, I'll probably get the PS5 version of WoA and buy the PSVR2 access online.
Am I still missing anything essential? Or is there something like a Complete Edition (physical) ?
Click to expand...
I sadly do not know about the situation regarding buying this game on console. The entire clusterfuck began with the release of Hitman 3 (as in the new/reboot series). The first two were released on Steam day 1, the third game wasn't as EGS had a timed exclusive. Back then I had to link my games through an IOI account, which was bad for several reasons I cba mention here anymore, but eventually I got it all in 1 game that way. Hitman 1/2/3 are more or less the same game with improvements here and there and new maps.
I think the core issue's are which pack also includes the maps from Hitman 2 + the Hitman 2 DLC maps New York and Haven Island.

It should be a little easier in your case, I hope. Why? Because you don't have Hitman 1 and 2 as seperate games. So what I would do in that case is just buy the basic Hitman WoA and see what it includes. And if you like said game, you can always add in whatever is missing afterwards. DLC generally isn't that amazing for this game(s) apart from the 2 full maps that got released during Hitman 2.

It shows a picture on the store page of Steam. The standard edition includes all the regular maps from Hitman 1/2/3. Part one is Hitman 1 with the improvementt & changes that Hitman 3 brought. New York and Haven Island (Deluxe Edition) are DLC maps from Hitman 2. Everything from 7 Deadly Sins and the 4-pack suits are extra DLC, basically shorter misions and in existing but slightly altered maps and cosmetic items.
 
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I bet those bastards reused animations, don't they know that in the real world people change their walk every 3-5 years 😆
 
Makes sense since 2 and 3 are essentially DLC. I never did pick up 3. The versions of each game are still way too confusing. I would not know which version to even buy that would be new content and not just accidentally buying 1 and 2 again.

I am looking forward to their 007 game. I hope the version is straight forward.
 
Best game I've ever played. I just wish they'd release some new maps and give it a first-person view like ye olde Hitmans had.
 
3rd game is a bit weird. 6th map is practically an out of place linear short experience that shouldn't count as an actual map. then again, it is a much needed closure to the game. berlin is another map that is really limited in scope and missions and again, really story focused and great ambience

all in all as an overall whole package of experience, they're on par to me. hitman 3 has these great story moments, hitman 2 has incredible big maps, and hitman 1 is a mix of both
 
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