"It's not Hitman without IO": Why Square Enix set the franchise free

President and CEO Yosuke Matsuda tells GamesIndustry.biz the reasons behind the surprise split with IO Interactive.

[strayanalog]

Nice. It really wouldn't be Hitman without IO, besides being an independent developer suits them fine, I believe.‎

[PlayableGamez-]

Wonder where the franchise is going to go now that it's independent.

[warriorcase]

The new patient zero campaign felt like it had a touch more of a darker tone. I hope they Keep doing what they are doing, hitman was great fun

[2pacalypsenow]

I miss IO + Eidos, before SE bought them.

[FriedGoat]

Yeah, most of the team who created the best hitman (blood money) and previous titles left ages ago.

[PlayStationswitch]

IO needs to make Freedom Fighters 2!
Or atleast an HD remake of the original.
Multiplayer was so underrated. It would be so amazing on the switch

[2pacalypsenow]

You can play the Original in 720p on the Xbox, looks pretty good.

[morganfell]

"It's not Hitman without IO": Why Square Enix set the franchise free

Translation: We weren't making a pile of money off these guys and it was cheaper to let them go than to try and sell the franchise.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Square Enix never actually needed to sell back the intellectual property.

I mean basically they could have sold Hitman to any number of Publishers to the highest bidder. The reality is it did not work out for both parties so they decided to part ways and in my personal opinion it was quite fair and honest for Square Enix to sell back that property to IO interactive because that's something that is actually pretty rare in this industry for a publisher to do.

Like really rare.

I mean it would have actually been cheaper to sell the intellectual property to the highest bidder I seriously don't think you really understand what square has allowed this team to do...

Most situations where a team gets let go by a major publisher doesn't really end in that major publisher selling back an intellectual property.

Trust me, this is rare.

When Bizarre Creations left Microsoft game studios in Microsoft game studios still owns Project Gotham Racing..

When bungie left Microsoft Microsoft still owns Halo....

When lionhead was closed down Microsoft still own Fable.

When Visceral Studios will shut down Electronic Arts still owns the Dead Space IP

When Capcom close down Clover Studios they did not give them viewtiful Joe and Okami

I think you really really really really need to read up on this to fully understand what happened because you may not like Square Enix but what they've just done is not the norm of gaming and most companies would sell the intellectual property or even keep it for future investment.

It was a nice thing they did because most small developers after being let go are not going to have such a result.

[morganfell]

"I mean basically they could have sold Hitman to any number of Publishers to the highest bidder. "

You do not know that. Square Enix didn't see enough promise and stating other companies would automatically go against that finding is supposition at best. You also do not know if SE has an agreement in place with IO that basically garners them some type of payout over time that SE found more profitable. You nor I have any idea how things worked out between them unless you have some corporate inside information. I stated something as more of a joke above and thought that was obvious. Even so it is likely accurate. Thjis was about money, not a lover's quarrel.

You do not know if it would have been cheaper or wiser financially to sell Hitman to another publisher even if others were willing to pay and Square may not have wholly owned the IP. Not every situation is the same. There also may have been accumulated debts that selling the property would not pay for yet disbursements from IO to Square over time would cover. The idea that they allowed them to keep the IP signals payments to SE over time is the most likely scenario. Again, because of something I said in jest which is that they were not making piles of cash off the back of Hitman.

[_-EDMIX-_]

"You do not know that"

Except I do, Square Enix was the one that owned the Hitman intellectual property.

They had options and it's clear they chose to sell it back to the developer, something they never needed to do.

Any number of Publishers like Activision Ubisoft Electronic Arts Microsoft what have you would have gladly paid top dollar for the Hitman intellectual property.

I don't even understand what you're trying to even debate 😂😂😂

IO interactive was let go, trust me they're not going to have more money than Electronic Arts Ubisoft Microsoft or any of the other top Publishers that's just completely asinine.

I have no clue what you're talking about but there was no damn agreement with the intellectual property it was 100% fully owned by Square Enix do you not know that this company was purchased through an acquisition?

This wasn't some merger , this wasn't some partnership this was Square Enix 100% owning this developer as well as owning the intellectual property.

No matter how much you hate this damn publisher please stop trying to purposely paint them in this negative light when you 100% understand that they easily could have sent this out to the highest bidder and I'm positive they would have made Millions more off of their property as opposed to from a small developer that was just let go.

So what you're telling me is IO interactive has more damn money then all the top third party Publishers and gaming? 😂😂😂
28514; Oooook

When Midway was going out of business it was a damn field day every damn publisher came out of the woodwork from Ubisoft to Sega to take two so they could buy teams and intellectual properties.

Soooooo yes, Square Enix very much was going to get millions upon Millions more from another top publisher than they ever were going to get from a small developer, this move was done out of respect.

You don't see Microsoft looking to sell Fable to lionhead a developer that just lost their jobs as if they could afford the intellectual property of fable 😂😂😂
28514;

http://www.gamesbrief.com/2...

So this was an acquisition , it was not a merger, it was not a partnership.

And

http://www.usgamer.net/arti...

[morganfell]

"Except I do, Square Enix was the one that owned the Hitman intellectual property. "

Now you are just making things up and this conversation is utterly useless. You were not sitting in the boardroom. You have absolutely no idea what SE's thoughts were on Hitman. Ownership of a property doesn't not magically create telepathy to the public of the owner's thoughts on an item. You also do not know if certain senior IO founder's maintained even a single percent of the IP's rights. How many game company's own an IP and just let it go for nothing? There are reasons to which neither you, nor I, nor the general public are privy. Accept it and stop with the fantasy as fact bit.

There are a hundred things they could have down with Hitman and thinking that you KNOW their intent and reasons is just absurd. "Look at me, I'm Karnak the Great, all knowing seer from the east". Okay pal, off to the funny farm. You can deduce until you are blue in the face but actually knowing is, in case you are unaware and you seem to be, and entirely different matter. There are facts and there are assumptions. Your ideas like mine on this matter are assumptions. You can call it a deduction if it makes you feel better.

"They had options and it's clear they chose to sell it back to the developer, something they never needed to do."

Yeah I actually agreed with you that was likely and I said they chose to do so because as a company in it for the money it must have been a far better profit than selling it to another publisher. Try reading what I said next time. Still doesn't mke it fact. You remarks and mine are guesses.

Again without first hand knowledge of SE's financials, forecasts, and what their company analysts told them was likely YOU HAVE NO IDEA what SE NEEDED or DID NOT NEED to do. Maybe you and your multi-million dollar company conduct business differently. Wait...no you do not. You are like me, a nobody on the internet with zero knowledge of the inside workings of SE.

No other way to phrase it. You are being ridiculous. You also have zero, ZERO idea what other publishers REALLY think of the Hitman property. They may see it as dried up and run out. Or super hot. Fact is you do not know. Neither do I but I can admit that. What some publisher says publicly is hardly ever the summation of their total thoughts on the matter. You also do not know if SE shopped it around and other publishers said no thanks. Stop acting like an omnipotent being, its retarded and childish.

"I have no clue what you're talking about but there was no damn agreement with the intellectual property it was 100% fully owned by Square Enix do you not know that this company was purchased through an acquisition? "

Again YOU DO NOT KNOW. NEITHER DO I. I acknowledge what I am stating as a supposition instead of letting my pretend insider knowledge and arrogance drive the train.

You should really call Michael Pachter. The two of you share similar traits of haughtiness and both of you are about as accurate as a 20 year old Daisy air rifle with bent sights.

Think you know what a company did, what their motivations are, why they chose a certain route, and...I love this part...what they really should have done (when you have almost none of the facts) is laughable and a child's flight of fancy. Have a nice life, I'm done.