2018 is when it was last updated. And Squexit was in 2017… IO don’t own the rights, they only have a license - which is why the text Yacob is referring to in the legal disclaimers show started showing up everywhere only after Squexit.
It’s also the reason SE still has a small financial interest in IO, as mentioned in the NoClip doc.
In a way, it really doesn’t matter who owns the IP or if IOI has a lifetime exclusive license for the Hitman franchise.
In the end, some of it is just semantics. The bottom line is that Square Enix and Warner Brothers invested in Hitman, and they did so to profit from their investment.
H. Abrak did discuss how IOI “owns” the rights to the Hitman IP moving forward after the Square Enix buyout, ensuring that all (or most) of the profits go to IOI.
Square Enix currently owns various trademarks under the HITMAN intellectual property/brand as a whole. To my knowledge the last one of these trademarks is set to expire in a few years with a few expiring in the near future.
I’m assuming this was one of the various contractual/legal agreements made during Squexit.
Square has the distribution rights to some HITMAN titles this being Sniper Challenge, GO, HITMAN Sniper (Mobile Game) and in some cases HITMAN 3 depending on your region.
In terms of owning the Brand/IP no they don’t, but as I said about IO and Square could renew contracts when it’s comes to distributing the titles since they remain to have a overall friendly relationship as businesses.
IO Interactive
IO Interactive owns the HITMAN Brand/IP. This has been made abundantly clear back in 2017 when news first broke out about being let go from Square Enix.
I shouldn’t have to go into detail here, but as long as IO is in business and never sells the brand HITMAN will remain theirs to own.
If you want to go look yourself you can go use the various databases that are available you can see both past and present trademarks filed if you feel like reading and delving into it.
MGM is extremely careful/stingy with who holds the license to 007.
IOI, as it exists right now, is a closed off entity. they develop their own games, they publish their own games, everything else is partnership and collaboration, no huge stakes from other companies.
imo, MGM wouldnt allow Sony to scoop up the 007 license after they just warily handed it to IOI (remember, theyre very stingy with it). one of the main decisions in MGM handing IOI the license is, no doubt, the fact that they are a singular, self-publishing entity.
Mr/Mrs/Ms. cake941, I think that you are probably right that the success in solidifying a relationship of IOI and the EON/MGM/Broccoli family was that IOI was a small, independent company whose company head, H. Abrak could personally sell a long term vision for the 007 IP.
Previous holders of the 007 license were AAA developers such as EA and Activision, produced titles that were not held in the same esteem as the original Golden Eye 007 in 1997.
But in terms of financing of the game, I could see that IOI continues with an exclusive deal with Sony, such as the release of a VR version of Project 007 as a PSVR2 exclusive title.
Kinda sounds like you want it to become a Sony exclusive? Forgive me if I’m making speculative assumptions… but that’s kinda in the spirit of this thread, right?
I don’t have an opinion of whether Project 007 will be a PlayStation exclusive.
What I know is that a typical AAA video game is getting to be too expensive to make for most video game developers. More people play video games, but there are also more developers. It leads to consolidation and big players like Microsoft willing to spend many billions to buy up one company to gain market share.
Sony has outsold Xbox, and Nintendo Switch has done so well in large part because of critical exclusives. It makes sense to think that Sony will be willing to put up cash to improve their exclusive lineup to sell their console.
Project 007 is a valuable IP and would be a key console seller for Sony. IOI has had exclusive relationships with Sony in the past, just like Insomniac Games was a gaming company that went from being a PlayStation exclusive seller to being purchased by Sony outright.
They might, but considering that the 007 license holders are very, uh, involved with the license, I imagine that any such negotiations would come with a steep price for Sony, and they just launched an expensive console during a semiconductor shortage. Timing is as important for huge corps as anyone else, and I think they’re doing a lot of loss leading right now, early in the console lifecycle.
imo, its not unimaginable to see Sony at least attempt to lock Project 007 as a PS5 exclusive (no way the game will reach the last gen consoles as the topic title suggests). They’ve been going a bit crazy for making things exclusive to their platform so far this generation and throwing around large amounts of cash.
Whether IO is in a position to be able to consider the deal (because of their license to the IP) or whether they would take it is a completely different story. But I wouldn’t be surprised if we see something eventually that says Sony have been trying to do something…
As for Sony buying IO: Little to no chance of that happening. Microsoft were reportedly looking into that in late-2018 and clearly IO either outright rejected the idea, or were simply asking for way too much. Given how much IO’s star has risen since the depths of 2018, any sort of asking price is going to be significantly higher these days - again, if it would even be considered.
Plz no, Sarajevo Six hurted also there are some exclusive escalations of HITMAN 3 in PS only. I want to give project 007 a try but i only have a PC to play it,
Agree with what you write here. IOI probably would have received many buyout offers from other AAA companies including Microsoft and Sony.
The pressure is on Sony to deliver on console exclusives to complete with XBox.
There is a way for IOI to self-publish Project 007 on all platforms, and also make deals with Sony and/or Microsoft for delivery of exclusive content (like the Sarajevo Six missions on Playstation or Playstation exclusive Hitman VR).
This I can see happening, as it gives IOI, a small developer, needed capital
So you think it’ll also come out for the last gen consoles (i.e. PS4) and do you believe that’s because of getting it in the hands of as many as possible, thus possibly making lots more money on it?
I think they might go with current gen consoles (i.e. PS5) just to push their own engine a little further along and to maybe use it as a showcase for what IOI are capable of, thus leading to more potential in the future regarding new projects and collaborations like with the Bond license.
