Hitman 3, released by IO Interactive in January, was both very popular and a huge success for the company in terms of sales. He had nearly 300% more commercial success than the last game by making a difference to the Hitman and Hitman 2 games released before him. The company’s CEO Hakan Abrak explained some information during a conversation with GameIndustry.biz as part of the GI: Live Online event.
Hitman 3 made his own expense from the first week
Abrak explained that the game is 300% better commercially than Hitman 2 and cited several important factors for this. One was to release the game themselves without a deal with any publisher, and another was to release the game in January. As you know, previous games square enix (Hitman) and Warner Bros. (Hitman 2) have released. The publishers’ share of the game as a result of the contract is up to IO Interactive.
- See: Hitman 3 Review
Abrak said, “When we took these risks, we saw the light at the end of the tunnel to choose the most suitable area to broadcast a Hitman game, and that was January for us, so we did it.”
In addition, Hitman 2 was released in November and several blockbuster games were released this month, Abrak said. He said sales of the game were influenced by the recent release of Red Dead Redemption 2.
“And I’ve always been a big fan of the idea of releasing a Hitman game in January. I always thought January was a great area for a Hitman game to get the attention it deserves. So we decided for January without knowing how it was going to go, we had never done this before but it was great timing.”
Abrak also suggested that a number of other factors improved the game’s sales performance, including high review scores and the fact that PS5/Xbox Series X/S consoles are one of the first major post-launch games. CEO Hakan Abrak said io interactive had received many attractive acquisition offers following its departure from its parent company Square Enix, but ultimately chose to go it alone. The company is currently working on the James Bond-themed Project 007. It seems that hitman 3 success and the new Barcelona studio will have a big part to play in the development of this project.
