Hitman Dev, IO Interactive, Lays Off Half of its Staff

<p>IO Interactive and Square Enix have announced a large amount of lay offs for the <em>Hitman&colon; Absolution<&sol;em> dev&comma; totaling to about half of the staff&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>In a statement given to <a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;gamesindustry&period;biz&sol;articles&sol;2013-06-17-hitman-developer-cuts-half-of-staff-refocuses-on-series">GamesIndustry<&sol;a>&comma; a spokesperson for Square Enix Europe stated that &&num;8216&semi;significant changes&&num;8217&semi; are being made due to a &&num;8216&semi;changing and challenging market&period;&&num;8217&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;We are making significant changes at IO Interactive as we align our business against a changing and challenging market&period; Hannes Seifert&comma; formerly Production Director for 3 years at the studio&comma; will take over the position of Studio Head at IO&comma;&&num;8221&semi; said the spokesperson in a statement&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;The studio will focus resolutely on the future vision for the <em>Hitman<&sol;em> franchise and is in pre-production on a new AAA <em>Hitman<&sol;em> project&period; However we have taken the difficult decision to cancel other studio projects and initiatives at IO and reduce the workforce in this studio&comma; which will impact almost half of the employees currently at IO&comma; as we make internal adjustments to face the challenges of today&&num;8217&semi;s market&period;&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&&num;8220&semi;For those affected&comma; we are extremely grateful for the hard work which they have contributed&comma; and where it&&num;8217&semi;s possible and appropriate to relocate staff to open positions at other studios within the group&comma; we will try to do so&period; We are also reaching out to other companies for outplacement opportunities&period; We sincerely wish them well in their future careers&period; If you are part of a company that is looking for additional development talent&comma; please contact us directly at info&commat;ioi&period;dk&&num;8221&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Hitman&colon; Absolution<&sol;em>&comma; the studios most recent title&comma; was released in November of last year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;