IO Interactive, the creators of the Hitman franchise and the recent 007 First Light, has issued a statement announcing layoffs after Microsoft withdrew funding from Project Fantasy. While the text doesn’t indicate that it was Microsoft was behind it and it hadn’t been reported before, they confirmed it a few minutes later. They did so in a statement to Bloomberg, where an Xbox representative said they were funding the project and that they have stopped doing so because they are reevaluating their investments to “focus on their biggest priorities”.
A disaster in the making
For its part, IO Interactive, says that this cut in funding will have short-term consequences such as layoffs of an as-yet undetermined number of workers at the studio. Though not the game’s cancellation. They said that they love the game, the world and the IP and that they are committed to Project Fantasy seeing the light of day someday.
Project Fantasy is a project that has been rumored at least since 2021 after IO Interactive opened a new studio in Barcelona, which could be the hardest hit by these layoffs, although nothing has yet been confirmed about it. But it wasn’t until February 2023 that its existence was confirmed, although we don’t know any concrete details about this mysterious RPG they are working on at the studio.
Meanwhile, the same Xbox representative says they are not reducing their investment in video games, although there are rumors that the company plans to close or sell up to five the company’s internal studios. So it seems hard times are coming for the video game industry.
