• Posted December 1st, 2011 at 11:25 EDT by Mike Harradence
• 1 Comments

IO Interactive has confirmed that part of the studio will begin work on a new IP following the completion of Hitman: Absolution.

Speaking with Gamasutra, studio boss Niels Sorensen revealed that the remainder of IO’s staff will aid the newly-formed Square Enix Montreal in the development of its new “premium quality” Hitman title. The new studio will open in 2012.

"When people work on the same IP for some time, I believe that there's a sort of creative drain," he commented, adding, "Thankfully we managed to make sure we keep focusing on different IPs and keeping people fresh."

As for the new IP, Sorensen didn’t provide any hints as to what we could expect, though did mention IO has established an in-house department focusing specifically on dreaming up ideas for new projects.

"We've built an incubation department whose focus is work on new IP and prototypes, and all sorts of things for existing and new IP,” he said.

"And that's a really interesting sort of secret place where they cook up a lot of new things."