Hitman 3 has recouped its development costs in less than a week

After less than a week of being on store shelves, IO Interactive’s final chapter in the World of Assassination trilogy is proving to be a smash hit with players. Who would have thought that there would be so many travel-starved homicidal maniacs out there? Self-published and independently developed, Hitman 3 has recouped all of its development costs, and from this point on, every new sale just means extra cash in IO’s pocket.

“As the developer and publisher, we are immensely proud that we can say Hitman 3 is already profitable,” IO Interactive explained to GamesIndustry.biz in a statement.

We have recouped the total project costs in less than a week. That puts us in a really good place and allows us to confidently move forward with our ambitious plans for future projects.

It has been  a strange road for Hitman since 2016. The first game in the series arrived in a piecemeal fashion, episodic content that brilliantly highlighted how intricate each of its levels were but didn’t exactly find too many fans. Players wanted the full experience from day one, and once all content had been shipped, IO Interactive split from publisher Square Enix.

There was some fear at the time that Hitman was dead, but IO Interactive took a gamble and bought the full rights to the franchise before setting out on its own. Warner Bros. Interactive would step in to publish Hitman 2, which gave fans exactly what they wanted: All six episodes available at launch, plus a pair of extra missions over the course of 2019 that were just as detailed and deliciously deep as the core game.

Hitman 3 would mark IO’s push to be completely independent, and is simply the pinnacle of the entire franchise. With the previous two games folded into its design, the entire trilogy is a globe-trotting masterpiece of design, intrigue, and perfect execution. Elements that have me very excited for IO’s upcoming James Bond game, Project 007.

Last Updated: January 28, 2021