Hitman developer IO Interactive opening a new studio in Brighton, UK

IO Interactive, the developer best known for the Hitman series, has announced it’s opening a studio in Brighton, UK. This announcement means that IO Interactive now has studios in Brighton, Copenhagen, Malmö, Barcelona, and Istanbul, and ties in with the philosophy the team has of working on any project from any studio. In fact, IO says that this means it is “bringing development of Project 007, the first James Bond origin story, to the UK”.

The developer says that “all five IOI studios make significant contributions to the ambitious development and publishing efforts on all games currently in active development: Project 007, Project Fantasy, and HITMAN“, and notes that “IOI Brighton is located in the centre of one of the UK’s cultural and artistic hubs. Known for its beautiful beach and iconic pier, Brighton also pairs great food and shopping with incredible night-life and architecture, making it a stand-out choice for relocation within the UK”.

Hakan Abrak, CEO of IO Interactive explained further, saying “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. 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”.

It’s been fairly quiet on all things IO Interactive recently, with the last major news of note that Hitman 3 was renamed to World of Assassination, back in January. The James Bond title, (codenamed Project 007) was announced way back in 2020, so with a bit of luck we’ll see something on that sometime soon.

The other title in active development we know if is Project Fantasy, an online fantasy RPG. IO Interactive explains this is “a game built from the core to entertain players and expand for many years to come. It feels familiar, yet at the same time IOI is going on a journey unlike any we have been on before”.

Project Fantasy and Project 007 are likely a way off, however, as the team is still hiring for Sound Design (lead sound designer), Game Design (gameplay director), and Programming roles (lead multiplayer programmer) on Fantasy, while 007 is still hiring for gameplay animator, senior character artist, and other roles.