The Square Enix-owned studio is known for Hitman: Absolution and the Kane & Lynch franchise. Through a Square Enix release, the company announced “significant changes” to its business strategy.
IOI has worked on other projects, but the Hitman series is its most prolific by far. Out of IOI’s nine titles, five are a part of the Hitman franchise.
Square Enix posted a net loss for the 2013 fiscal year, which was released at the end of March. The company finished 13,714 million yen in the red, as a result of “strategic initiatives” which were designed to pan out in the future.
But in the meantime, the company has had to deal with some crippling losses, which might explain why they’ve moved forward with cutting IOI in half
There have been other major cuts in the gaming industry recently, albeit at a much different scale. Online gaming giant Zynga cut 520 jobs (18 percent of its staff) in June.
