The full effect of Xbox’s massive restructuring, which saw thousands depart across multiple studios, is still coming to light. A few hours ago, IO Interactive, the developer behind 007 First Light, revealed that it had regained full ownership of its IP, Project Fantasy, but there is bad news in the mix.
“Dear gaming community,” began the message posted across its social platforms. “Following the end of our external finance partnership on Project Fantasy, IOI has regained full ownership of the project and our IP. We will continue to develop and fund it independently amongst our other projects.”
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In the midst of the excitement, the Hitman maker disclosed that going forward it will focus on its “internal core titles” rather than external projects. It is also planning to extend its IPs to mobile. These changes will lead to the layoff of an undisclosed number of employees.
“This has meant making changes as well as proposed changes across our studios: the closure of our Istanbul studio and starting a process to part ways with colleagues who have been a meaningful part of what makes IOI what it is.”
IO Interactive said its primary focus is supporting those who have been impacted by this decision. While the studio admitted that the internal restructuring was hard, it added:
“[This is a] necessary decisions, in order to retain the long-term future of IO Interactive as one of the very few fully independent AAA developer and publisher, as well as to give Project Fantasy the best possible foundation to succeed under our own passion and direction.”
IO Interactive describes Project Fantasy “a game, a world, and an IP that we are wholly committed to”. Back in May, the studio had said that the new IP was in a “Very Healthy Space”. In retrospect, the reason why that statement was made had become clearer. It appears IO Interactive already had contingency plans for situations like this since the early days of Project Fantasy’s development.
