Square Enix Clarifies Next-Gen Hitman Status

The next-gen Hitman game reportedly being developed by Square Enix Montreal has supposedly been cancelled.

Videogamer spotted that the LinkedIn profile of senior game designer Richard Knight claims the "Hitman Project (Next-Gen Consoles/Current Gen/PC)" has now been cancelled, and he is instead "Prototyping games in short dev cycles for Tablet devices."

Little was known about the title supposedly being worked on by Square Enix Montreal, though the studio was previously expected to alternate with franchise creators IO Interactive when making new games in the series, in a similar manner to how Treyarch and Infinity Ward do with Call of Duty.
The news that the game's been cancelled isn't that surprising, seeing as Square Enix refocused the studio from AAA titles to mobile ones midway through last year.

Around the same time, Square announced that IO Interactive would be downsized, and tasked with focusing on the franchise's future. It was also confirmed the studio was "in pre-production on a new AAA Hitman project." Whether this title is a separate one altogether, or if IO was handed the reins to Square Enix Montreal's project is unclear.

Update: A Square Enix representative has confirmed to JuJu2Cast that a new Hitman title is in development at IO interactive for PC and next-gen consoles, while Square Enix Montreal will focus on mobile titles.

Square Enix provided the following statement:

"Io-Interactive is developing a new, AAA Hitman game that will be coming to PC and next-gen consoles and Square Enix Montreal is fully focused on mobile development of games some of which are related to the Hitman franchise. We look forward to sharing more details about these titles later this year."