IO Interactive talks layoffs and publisher split

Leading up the upcoming release of Hitman 2, Danish studio IO Interactive has been through a bit of trouble. Despite the successful launch of Hitman in 2016, the studio ended up parting ways with publisher Square Enix, and that of course led to some layoffs.

Recently, the studio's associate director Eskil Mohl spoke at length about this troublesome period for the studio in an interview with GameSpot, where he said the following regarding the layoffs:

"We had to let a lot of people go. But that made the team that was left really come together [and say] 'Let's do this, we believe in the product'. We were already working on Hitman 2 and then this thing happened. It sort of unified us in a way. Yeah, it's been super hard, but its always a lot of work, but it's fun work. It really made us go, 'Yeahhh we can do it!'"

With the break-up and the subsequent layoffs, Mohl also seems to suggest that it's a "miracle" that the studio still exists:

"It's sort of a miracle that we're here today. We're super happy and excited about that because of course it's been a rough time. It took a long time to find Warner as well."

Hitman 2 is releasing on November 9 for Deluxe Edition owners, and November 13 for everyone else.

Are you pleased to see IO Interactive keeping on with Hitman?