Hitman 3 teased by developer – along with a whole new IP

Not assassinated anyone in a while? IO Interactive, the studio behind the iconic Hitman franchise, seems to have something in the works that may scratch that itch for you – and it might just be Hitman 3.

In a 40-minute YouTube documentary, The Fall & Rise of Hitman, IOI confirmed that it was ”working on new Hitman content, and looking ahead to the third Hitman game”.

• What did we think of Hitman 2?
• Check out the best Xbox One games
• Or the best PS4 games instead

We know from previous comments that Hitman 3 has long been planned, but with the previous title in the series – Hitman 2 – only released in late 2018, it may be a couple of years yet before the final game in the trilogy hits PC and consoles.

CEO Hakan Abrak wouldn't be drawn into officially confirming the next entry, but added that such a game, were it in development, ”may once-again go episodic”, continuing the tendency of recent games to launch with a limited amount of content, with effectively large DLC missions added during the game's lifespan.

A hitman never reveals their secrets

So, Hitman 3 seems very likely to be on the way, and given the lead time between Hitman and Hitman 2, we could see it as soon as 2020; however, other somewhat cryptic comments from IOI during the documentary point to something else entirely being in development, presumably in addition to Hitman 3.

IO Interactive created a new subsidiary studio back in January 2019, and its CEO suggested that it was ”working on something secret, and rather excitingly, something new [and] looking into the future with new things and potentially new IPs that we might be working on”.

So is this a new direction for Hitman, or a whole new IP? Given Hitman's tried and tested formula, it remains to be seen whether IOI's fans want, well, something that isn't that. We could perhaps see something in the vein of mobile puzzle game Hitman GO – though hopefully the dev will know better than to raise its fans' hopes too high before dashing them with just a mobile port (we're looking at you, Diablo Immortal).

With the next generation of Xbox Scarlett and PS5 consoles on the way though, either Hitman 3 or this potential IP could achieve a scale far beyond the intricate levels of the previous Hitman games. A nation-sized assassination mission, perhaps?

• Check out the best PC games you can play

Via Gamespot