Hitman dev IO making new IP after Absolution

Danish Hitman developer IO Interactive will work on new IP following the completion of Hitman Absolution.

That's what studio head Niels Sorensen is reported to have told Gamasutra.

There was, however, no mention of what this new IP will be.

Sorensen explained that after Hitman Absolution, released next year, part of IO will go on to collaborate with new studio Square Enix Montreal on a brand new next-gen Hitman game. The rest of IO, Sorensen said, will begin work on the new IP.

"When people work on the same IP for some time, I believe that there's a sort of creative drain," Sorensen told Gamasutra. "Thankfully we managed to make sure we keep focusing on different IPs and keeping people fresh."

"We've built an incubation department whose focus is work on new IP and prototypes, and all sorts of things for existing and new IP. And that's a really interesting sort of secret place where they cook up a lot of new things."

IO has tried new IP for much of this seventh generation of consoles. The last Hitman game released was Blood Money in 2006, which was a last-gen game tarted up for Xbox 360. And what fun it was.

After Blood Money, IO embarked on gritty new co-op shooter Kane & Lynch. The series started confidently in 2007 with Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, but plummeted below average with sequel Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days in 2010.

In between the Kane & Lynch games, IO tried yet another new tack: kid-friendly action game Mini Ninjas, which was forgettable but enjoyable.

So, where will IO go next?