“We listen to what the players want,” Lallier explains. “We also develop targets based on what we love as well, like Jean-Claude Van Damme and Eminem, that resonate with us. We’ve been trying to do different things with targets. We’re exploring all the time, looking at what worked and what didn’t work from previous targets, we can see that our elusive targets get more and more engagement. The players are seeing that we’re listening to what they suggest in their feedback.”
Among the biggest Hitman announcements to come out of the IOI Access event is that the first three games in the series – 2000’s Hitman: Codename 47, 2002’s Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, and 2004’s Hitman: Contracts – are getting remastered and optimized for modern platforms in 2027. Bundled as the Hitman Classic Trilogy Remastered, the collection is being handled by Saber Interactive, who have previously released acclaimed remasters of Tomb Raider and Halo. For IOI, Saber Interactive’s dedicated team, who were already clear fans of the original Hitman games, made their choice as the developers for this remaster a natural one, with Lallier observing that Saber has a visible track record of maintaining the fine balance of preserving past experiences while reintroducing them to newcomers, praising their diligent approach.
“Just having people who share the same love and passion for what was done just felt right for us,” Lallier notes. “When our teams are making our games, we love what we’re doing. That was something that just felt so organic when we talked to them. They really understand what we’re doing, what we’re trying to do, and what we’ve done. It just felt right.”
But as exciting as it is to see the original Hitman games get remastered with upgraded technical presentations and take on celebrities like Wiz Khalifa and Jean-Claude Van Damme in Hitman: World of Assassination elusive target missions, IOI is keeping its cards close to the chest about the future of the franchise beyond this. With over a million players staying active with World of Assassination, Lallier explains that it’s important for the company to keep serving them with fresh and fun experiences, including the previously announced co-op gameplay coming to the title. At the same time, Lallier admits that a new Hitman game is something of an inevitability, it’s just a matter of when.
“Hitman is our legacy, it’s in our DNA,” Lallier declares. “We will definitely do something eventually. But at the moment, our focus has really been on development of 007 First Light and more. Last year, we mentioned co-op and that’s been something we’ve been looking into, something those on the project will continue to work on. Hopefully, we’ll have more to talk about soon!”
Developed and published by IO Interactive, Hitman: World of Assassination is available now in most major platforms, including PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC, and macOS.
