| Hi everyone, it's Jason. A few years ago, the Danish video game company IO Interactive A/S took a big risk, spinning out from its parent company of more than a decade. Its most recent title, Hitman 3, was entirely self-published—a daring financial move that could make or break any small company. The gamble has paid off. Hitman 3, which came out Jan. 20, already recouped the project costs and is now profitable, IO Interactive Chief Executive Officer Hakan Abrak said this week in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. The development house has ambitious plans to double its staff to 400 and has signed a deal to make a game based on the British superspy James Bond. In the video game industry, where independent developers usually go bankrupt or get sold, this is a rare success story. Fans worried for IO Interactive's future when in 2017, its Japanese parent company, Square Enix Holdings Co., announced that the two were parting ways. But IO survived and thrived. The studio had just released a successful reboot of the Hitman franchise, and was on track for a sequel, which it published with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Inc. in 2018. Hitman 2 was enough of a success to allow IO Interactive to self-publish the third game, helping ensure the studio's autonomy for the long run. Hitman, a game series starring a generic, bald assassin with a bar code tattooed on the back of his head, seems at first blush like a generic shooter game, the likes of which seemed to pop up every month in the early 2000s. But it is actually a fascinating experiment. Each game is a globetrotting adventure that takes Agent 47 from the skyscrapers of Dubai to the British countryside to the sports arenas of Miami. In each setting, players get a mission to assassinate someone (or multiple people). Each level is vast and intricate, giving players a ton of toys for scheming. Completing a Hitman game is less like blasting enemies in Call of Duty and more like solving a slow, contemplative puzzle. One target might regularly walk into a conference room and drink coffee, giving you the perfect opportunity to slip in some poison. Another might be conveniently located right next to an exposed wire and a puddle of water. Sure, the end game is murder, but it's much less bleak than it seems. The tone is goofy and you're punished for killing civilians. Rather than simply completing each level in order, Hitman encourages you to keep experimenting and learning the environment. Eventually, each game offers "exclusive targets," or a special new person to kill for a limited period of time. One of Hitman 2's first such targets was played by the actor Sean Bean. The catch is that you only get one chance. If you die or fail the mission, you'll never be able to play it again. No other game does quite what Hitman does, which is one of the main reasons that the franchise has resonated with players. In an industry that can be brutal for many people, it's nice to see a happy ending. —Jason Schreier | 
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