Freshly independent Io strips Denuvo from Hitman

Developer Io Interactive has updated the PC version of Hitman to remove its DRM.

Having recently gained in its independence from former owner Square Enix and retained the Hitman rights, Io has immediately got to work. It’s first move has been to ditch Denuvo DRM.

It has also made the game’s opening chapter free to download on PS4, Xbox One and PC. Furthermore, the full game has been widely discounted across all digital stores. All profit will go directly to Io, too. Those who try the free bit and decide to buy the full game will see all their progress carried over.

More content for the game is also planned in the near future, with one new escalation contract already released and another shortly on the way.

Io’s future was cast into doubt last month when Square Enix made the surprise announcement that it had put the studio up for sale.

However, Io Interactive confirmed last week that it had completed a successful buyout and gone fully independent, retaining complete control of the Hitman IP in the process.

"We’re about to forge our own future and it’s incredibly exciting," CEO Hakan Abrak said. "We are now open to opportunities with future collaborators and partners to help strengthen us as a studio and ensure that we can produce the best games possible for our community.

"I would like to say a big and sincere thank you to all of our players, community, friends in the media and everyone else connected to the studio for the messages of support that we have received in the last few weeks. I would also like to thank Square Enix; it has been a great family to be a part of and we are proud of what we have achieved together in the last eight years. IOI started as an independent studio and we will now return to those roots with an extremely passionate and talented team.

"We are counting on the continued support of all our players; simply by having fun with everything we’ve released so far for HITMAN – and we want to encourage more of you to try our game. We have more details to come on our plans for that next week."