Danish developer IO Interactive announced today that it has opened a third studio in Barcelona, Spain to work alongside its existing locations in Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö, Sweden.
“All three of the IO Interactive studios are treated as Elite studios and will each make a significant impact to ongoing development and publishing efforts across all projects,” the company’s statement reads.
These projects include ongoing development of the company’s flagship Hitman franchise, the mysterious 007 Project (which has been described as a James Bond origin story), and another IP that still remains unannounced. IO Interactive CEO and co-founder Hakan Abrak briefly spoke about this third franchise last week during an interview with IGN, calling it “completely new.”
“All three of our studios have extremely talented developers who are passionate and driven towards making an impact in our industry,” Abrak added in today’s announcement. “A core part of our philosophy is that everyone at IOI has a significant and impactful role to play in realizing our dreams, regardless of where they’re located. Think of it as one studio, in multiple locations.”
DISCUSSION
Does this ever go well? This “we had a moderate hit with 1 IP, time to massively scale out”? I feel like these kinds of satellite studios very rarely have an optimistic 5 year outlook.