The next Hitman game is "a little bit on hiatus" as the devs work on James Bond

Hitman 3 — (Image credit: IO Interactive)

IO Interactive is at work on Project 007 and an as-yet-untitled online fantasy RPG, and while the studio is still supporting the World of Assassination, the main Hitman series is "a little bit on hiatus."

"Right now a major, major new Hitman game: that's a little bit on hiatus, as we're building another agent fantasy that's also taking up a lot of our time," chief creative officer Christian Elverdam tells Eurogamer, alluding to the upcoming James Bond game. "But obviously we'll come back to beloved Agent 47. He's still very much in the heart of this company."

Elverdam says that the lessons learned from the recent Hitman trilogy have him excited for the prospect of that future game, though. "Obviously, as any creative, it would be nice to then go in and say, 'Okay, well, with everything we've learned, what would that be if we had to re-articulate a sandbox - what would that look like?'"

Project 007 was announced way back in 2020, and in recent financial reports the studio has hinted that the game may still be several more years away. That online fantasy RPG was announced just two weeks ago, and is likely even further out from launch. With that in mind, it's likely that any major return for Agent 47 is going to be a long, long time away.

The recent Hitman trilogy has drawn its share of criticism for the potential preservation issues and occasional technical problems its always-online status presented, but there's no denying that this series of releases has offered the series' most compelling sandbox ever, with nearly two dozen levels and numerous ways to play through each one of them, all of which is now contained in the single World of Assassination package. If Agent 47 is going into hibernation for the foreseeable future, World of Assassination is an incredible note to end on.

Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a long haul in American Truck Simulator.