IO Interactive was looking for ways to cut costs for Hitman 3 after investing $100 million in Hitman 2016. The company found a solution — toilets.
Spoiler alert: none of the developers were forced to run to the nearest coffee shop because they were forbidden to use the restrooms. Unfortunately or fortunately, the situation is more prosaic: rethinking the development model after the release of Hitman: Absolution in 2012, says CEO Hakan Abraham. Abraham recalls that at that time, the team was spending resources on everything — even things like unique toilet models in each level. So we had to improvise, although we have to positively note dozens of IO’s design solutions in previous games.
«I swore never to do more new toilets. Just do new toilets,’ right? Like, we were just doing new everything. And it was just a throwaway», — he said.
When the studio started working on Hitman 2016, it consciously adopted the principle of «brick to» brick. All elements of the game were created with the idea of reuse in mind. Everything that could be needed later was not forgotten. Locations, objects, and mechanics began to be optimized for long-term efficiency.
And really, look at how many toilet options Hitman showed — this is just a small part
The result is a significant decrease in the budget with each subsequent game. According to Abraham, while Hitman 2016 cost $100 million, Hitman 2 — $60 million, Hitman 3 cost only $20 million. And yet the franchise remained showing new locations, as well as the highest Metacritic rating of the trilogy: 85, 84, and 87 points respectively on different platforms. So, the «toilet fuss» in Hitman was not in vain.
Abraham believes that this approach is the key to the studio’s survival amid the general increase in costs in the game industry. IO was able to remain independent after the breakup with Square Enix and did not get caught up in the wave of massive Covid-era layoffs. In addition, they continue to be creative.
The studio’s next game — 007: First Light about the young James Bond. This is not without higher costs, but IO plans to build it on the same principlereusability of systems, tools, and structures. And even here, developers «bring everything with them» — in 007 First Light are expected to dynamic missions like «elusive targets» Hitman.
Source: The Game Business
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