IO Interactive, the independent studio behind the popular Hitman franchise, is expanding again, this time to the UK. The studio announced a Brighton, United Kingdom-set development studio today, which is set to work on upcoming projects such as the James Bond entry.
This is the fifth studio the developer now has working all over the globe on its three announced projects: Project 007, Project Fantasy and Hitman. Aside from the main studio in Copenhagen, Denmark, IO so far had teams set up in Sweden, Spain, and Turkey.
"We are extremely proud and excited to open our next studio in Brighton, where we see enormous potential to expand our incredible team and attract the very best talent from the exciting UK development scene," says IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak.
"We’re eager to expand our operations to new shores and believe that IOI Brighton is an extremely appealing destination for developers of all crafts."
According to IO, the Brighton location already has a team set up to kickstart its development duties. There are quite a few positions open in various departments as well, ranging from programming and operations to QA, which can be found here.
Currently, IO Interactive is continuing the development of Hitman 3, which has evolved into a live service offering named Hitman – World of Assassination. The studio is also working on a James Bond title with an original story. The game aims to tell the origin story of how 007 came to be a highly skilled operative.
More recently, the studio also revealed it"s working on a fantasy RPG with online elements. This title may be an Xbox Series X|S and PC exclusive release as well, according to recent leaks from the FTC versus Microsoft court hearing. Another document further revealed that Microsoft has shown interest in acquiring the studio in recent years, though it"s unclear if this venture has gone anywhere.