We are living through one of the worst years for video games. More than 11,000 people have been laid off from the industry so far in 2024, with The case of Bungie being only the most recent of what many describe as an epidemic of layoffs. But in the midst of this chaos, the studio IO Interactive, developers of the excellent Hitmanis in one of his best moments. His game – or rather the combination of his last three games combined under the label of Hitman: World of Assassination— is played by, they say, millions of people every day and the recent event with Conor McGregor was a huge success. What makes them so different from other AAA game companies?
In A recent interview with Game Developerjournalist Chris Kerr asked something very similar to Veronique Lallier, head of development at IO Interactive. How has the studio managed to find stability and grow when other companies in the industry are faltering?
According to Lallier, It’s all because IO Interactive got rid of its shareholders in 2017 and became independent..
This makes a lot of sense. We’ve seen studios fire people despite releasing wildly successful games, all because their shareholders always demand higher profits, and the best way to achieve better numbers is to “cut heads” before financial reports. By not having to answer to shareholders who often have no idea how the industry works, a studio has a lot more freedom of action and isn’t forced to meet absurd goals.
Throughout the rest of the interview, Lallier talks about other elements that have contributed to the success of Hitman and IO Interactive. These include not working on too many projects at once, not spreading development teams across different time zones, and keeping costs under control, especially during the early stages of a project.
In addition to maintaining the “live services” of Hitman: World of AssassinationIO Interactive is also working on a game James Bond. It currently doesn’t have an approximate release date but that’s okay, there are no shareholders forcing them to release it before it’s ready.
