Yesterday fans of Square-Enix’s sneaky, stabby Hitman games got a scare when various sites reported a next-gen entry in the series had been cancelled. The last game in the series (Hitman: Absolution) hadn’t performed up to Square-Enix’s expectations — could they be shelving the series for good?
Thankfully, that’s not the case. Back in 2011 it was revealed that Square-Enix Montreal would be working on the next major entry in the Hitman series, but in late 2013 Square-Enix announced that particular studio would be mostly re-focusing on mobile games, and then yesterday somebody thought to check out the Linkedin profile of the game’s senior designer Richard Knight. According to Richard’s profile, Square-Enix Montreal’s Hitman game had been cancelled.
Cue hysteria! Thankfully representatives from Square-Enix Europe and IO Interactive (the creators of the Hitman series) stepped in to assure fans that the death of Square-Enix Montreal’s Hitman game didn’t mean the death of the series as a whole…
Square-Enix hasn’t officially announced the next game in the Hitman franchise, but between these tweets and various IO Interactive job postings it seems almost certain that a new next-gen Hitman is on the way and it’s probably being made by IO Interactive. So breathe easy Hitman fans, Agent 47 has sidestepped assassination yet again.