With respect, my friend, you’re wrong. IOI have been profitable in every one of their financial years since 2012/13 (which is the earliest data I could find) according to their own financial statements:
| DKK '000s | 2019/20 | 2018/19 | 2017/18 | 2016/17 | 2015/16 | 2014/15 | 2013/14 | 2012/13 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 212,814 | 154,103 | 120,823 | 210,634 | 213,526 | 146,027 | 178,177 | 209,943 |
| Net Profit / (Loss) | 11,591 | 16,416 | 40,926 | 3,925 | 1,310 | 4,941 | 876 | 2,767 |
(Source: data from 2019/20 and 2015/16 financial statements for IOI at https://datacvr.virk.dk/data/visenhed?enhedstype=virksomhed&id=24216209&soeg=io%20interactive&type=undefined&language=en-gb to produce this combined table)
Now it’s true that under Squeenix’s ownership, maybe they weren’t as profitable as their corporate overlords demanded (though it’s well documented that Square Enix placed unrealistic financial expectations on many of their properties, not just Hitman, with a good number of their titles that sold millions of copies being deemed to have ‘underperformed’), but IOI were categorically not a loss-making business.
And now they are independent and only have to answer to themselves, the need to make Super-Duper Profits™ rather than just Standard Consumer-Friendly Profits™ should not necessarily be top of their priority list, especially as we know that since the 2019/20 financial year (ending 31st March 2020), 2020/21 will also certainly be profitable for them too with the widely reported information that early H3 sales in Jan 2021 already made back all H3 production costs.
IOI are not - repeat NOT - a poor, struggling business, and while they do deserve credit for producing a fantastic series of games in the last 5 years against a backdrop of major financial and logistical disruption (which they have done brilliantly to overcome), they are not a charity case and we shouldn’t treat them like one when their value offering dips below par, as seems to be the case with the Seven Deadly Sins DLC.
Corporations are not your friends, David, don’t be fooled into thinking they are.