Hitman: IO Interactive's managers bought the studio from Square Enix and kept the IP

In May 2017 Square Enix announced it was dropping IO Interactive, the Danish studio it had inherited through Eidos in 2009. The situation looked terminal: layoffs followed while Square Enix searched for a buyer, and industry watchers openly doubted the studio would survive. Its last project, the 2016 episodic reboot of Hitman, had moved the studio 'into the digital era' but its staggered release structure had not translated into security for the people making it.

Instead of a stranger's bid, the outcome was a management buyout negotiated with Square Enix, completed in June 2017. The deal left the studio independent and — critically — gave it full ownership of the Hitman IP. Studio head Hakan Abrak called it 'a watershed moment': 'we have complete control over the direction for our studio and the Hitman IP'. Season-one profits flowed to the studio, the opening episode went permanently free to recruit players, and the team dropped the Denuvo DRM in a bet on goodwill.

Independence let IOI run Hitman as a long-service platform: Hitman 2, then Hitman 3 in 2021 — which outperformed its predecessor in key markets — all folded into one continuously updated package, Hitman World of Assassination. In December 2024 alone it counted one million active players, helped by stunts like an elusive-target Jean-Claude Van Damme. By January 2025 the game had passed 75 million lifetime players, which the studio called a 'monumental' milestone making it the most successful Hitman game of all time.

Full Hitman IP ownership; by January 2025 World of Assassination had passed 75 million players, the series' most successful game, with business 'more solid than ever'.

The management team negotiated for the IP, not just the studio — owning Hitman outright meant every future sequel built equity they kept, rather than work-for-hire fees.

Continuity preserved the team: the designers of the 2016 reboot stayed together instead of being scattered by layoffs or an acquirer's restructuring.

Freeing Hitman from a parent's quarterly expectations let IOI pivot from episodic stunts to a single evolving game with live content, which is where the audience actually was.

The buyout came when the studio's valuation was at its floor, so a small group of managers could afford the deal — and the upside of the franchise they knew best.

When a corporate owner loses patience, the team that made the franchise is often the only buyer who values the IP correctly: a buyout that keeps the brand beats a sale to a stranger.

IOI used its independence to expand beyond Hitman: a Barcelona studio in 2019, a Copenhagen expansion, and a James Bond game, Project 007, announced in 2021. Hitman World of Assassination keeps receiving content years after launch — January 2025 alone brought a new elusive target, the actor Jean-Claude Van Damme — and the studio described its business as 'more solid than ever'. The 2017 buyout is now cited in the industry as the proof that mid-size studios can survive divestment — if they walk out with their brand.