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Good news for fans of HITMAN, as IO Interactive have confirmed they've retained the rights and become a fully independent studio.

Here's the most important snippet from the press release sent out today:
QuoteTherefore I am proud to announce today that IOI is now officially an independent studio. We have successfully concluded our negotiations with Square Enix and have agreed to a management buyout. Crucially, we will keep all of the rights to the Hitman IP.


Very welcome news after a period of uncertainty since Square Enix decided to start cutting down, which included removing their funding of IO Interactive.

Hopefully they will continue to work with Feral Interactive to bring more exciting titles to Linux. Without a publisher funding them though, this could mean future titles may end up watered-down compared to what they've done recently. Considering how well the latest HITMAN has done for them, I am hopeful they will continue pushing out great games.

I personally think the latest HITMAN is fantastic and I've certainly enjoyed my time with it. I am really hoping they do a second season as I need more.

See the full post here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial
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35 comments
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Kimyrielle Jun 16, 2017
I am totally not sure if this is good news. Actually more the opposite. Square Enix is quite Linux friendly. Until proven otherwise, we have not the slightest reason to believe that IO will be the same. They are a Windows-only studio having made nothing but Windows games so far (if I am not totally mistaken), and it was -Square Enix- that hired Feral to do the port.
VaDen Jun 16, 2017
Quoting: KimyrielleI am totally not sure if this is good news. Actually more the opposite. Square Enix is quite Linux friendly. Until proven otherwise, we have not the slightest reason to believe that IO will be the same. They are a Windows-only studio having made nothing but Windows games so far (if I am not totally mistaken), and it was -Square Enix- that hired Feral to do the port.

They could've kill both the studio and the franchise, y'know.
Liam Dawe Jun 16, 2017
Quoting: KimyrielleI am totally not sure if this is good news. Actually more the opposite. Square Enix is quite Linux friendly. Until proven otherwise, we have not the slightest reason to believe that IO will be the same. They are a Windows-only studio having made nothing but Windows games so far (if I am not totally mistaken), and it was -Square Enix- that hired Feral to do the port.
I don't think anybody hires Feral, Aspyr & VP directly. I think they reach out to developers and publishers to port their games.

There's no reason to assume IO will suddenly be anti-Linux.
Shmerl Jun 16, 2017
I'm interested in whether they'll start releasing their games DRM-free.
Shmerl Jun 16, 2017
Quoting: liamdaweI don't think anybody hires Feral, Aspyr & VP directly. I think they reach out to developers and publishers to port their games.

Not necessarily. It can go in both directions.


Last edited by Shmerl on 16 June 2017 at 7:08 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Jun 16, 2017
Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: liamdaweI don't think anybody hires Feral, Aspyr & VP directly. I think they reach out to developers and publishers to port their games.

Not necessarily. It can go in both directions.
It can, but that won't happen often for Linux. Not many bigger developers and publishers are interested in Linux. From what I know and understand, it's often porters reaching out, not the other way around.
Shmerl Jun 16, 2017
We can ask Knockout Games (Aaron Melcher) if he is more often hired, or reaches out to developers with such proposals. I think the former.

Which reminds me. I wonder what happened to the Shadow Warrior 2. It was still supposedly coming, but there are no news.


Last edited by Shmerl on 16 June 2017 at 7:13 pm UTC
LinuxGamesTV Jun 16, 2017
Quoting: liamdawe
Quoting: Kimyrielle...
...

There's no reason to assume IO will suddenly be anti-Linux.

We will see.
Shmerl Jun 16, 2017
Quoting: liamdaweIt can, but that won't happen often for Linux.

From the previous interview on GOL:

QuoteQ: When you want to get porting, do you reach out to developers, or do they reach out to you?
A: Both. I mostly get referrals, but I will reach out to developers of a game I'm a big fan of. That's one of the reasons I decided to start this thing, freedom to chose my work.

It's not so clear though what happens with HB first, and whether they reach out to developers as well, or the other way around. Are they even still doing it? In the early days HB were pushing this work. No idea what's going on today with it.


Last edited by Shmerl on 16 June 2017 at 7:18 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Jun 16, 2017
Quoting: Shmerl
Quoting: liamdaweIt can, but that won't happen often for Linux.

From the previous interview on GOL:

QuoteQ: When you want to get porting, do you reach out to developers, or do they reach out to you?
A: Both. I mostly get referrals, but I will reach out to developers of a game I'm a big fan of. That's one of the reasons I decided to start this thing, freedom to chose my work.

It's not so clear though what happens with HB first, and whether they reach out to developers as well, or the other way around. Are they even still doing it? In the early days HB were pushing this work. No idea what's going on today with it.
There's a big difference between a small one man studio going for smaller games, to porting houses like Feral, VP and Aspyr (the one's I actually mentioned).

I see this as good news, but feel free to be as pessimistic as you like ;)
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