Hitman publisher IO Interactive is teaming up with developer Build A Rocket Boy — started by former Rockstar Games dev Leslie Benzies — to publish MindsEye, a cinematic action adventure game.
IO Interactive spun out of Square Enix and set itself up a few years ago as an independent game development studio and publisher. Now the publisher side is announcing the agreement with Leslie Benzies’ Build A Rocket Boy, to publish and distribute MindsEye, the company’s highly anticipated story-driven action-adventure thriller created by the legendary game director.
Benzies, who worked on the Grand Theft Auto series, has a 25-year track record in developing, producing, directing and designing video games, won multiple awards, and is recognized across the industry for his significant contributions to video game creation. MindsEye is the kind of triple-A game and new intellectual property combination that is increasingly rare in the high-end of gaming.
“From day one, Build A Rocket Boy Studios has been focused on creating the next generation of
compelling gaming and quality entertainment experiences, Benzies, game director, said in a statement. “We can’t wait to share our first triple-A premium game and ever-evolving universe, MindsEye, with the world.”
He added, “There is no finer partner than IO Interactive to publish our first title, with their strong understanding of community culture, premium action-adventure games, and a best-in-class publishing team, we really look forward to partnering with them on our new blockbuster journey.”
How IO Interactive is leading change in publishing
IO Interactive, the independent video game developer and publisher best known for the Hitman and Freedom Fighters franchises, has been at the forefront of creating genre-defining games that push the boundaries of technology.
IOI is currently developing the first James Bond origin story with the working title Project 007, and a new IP under the codename Project Fantasy. IOI is in full force to deliver ambitious and innovative new IP’s and will publish MindsEye as its first externally developed franchise game.
“We are honoured to be the global publishing partner working with Build A Rocket Boy’s
exceptionally talented team and to bring our community an exciting new IP,” said Hakan Abrak, CEO of IO Interactive, in a statement. “IO Interactive and Build A Rocket Boy are like-minded in how we aim to create a bond and a long-term relationship with our communities, which perfectly aligns with our commitment to delivering high-quality, immersive experiences to players worldwide. As our first publishing partnership, this marks a significant milestone for IO Interactive, and we could not be prouder of this collaboration.”
MindsEye
Build A Rocket Boy released a teaser last year of MindsEye, a story-driven, action-adventure thriller, set in a fictional near future Americana. You will play as as Jacob Diaz, a former soldier with a mysterious neural implant who is suffering from memory loss and flashbacks. Set out on a series of dangerous covert missions to unlock the secrets of your past in a world filled with the persistent threat of artificial intelligence, high tech experimentation, corporate espionage, political corruption, and an unchecked military. MindsEye is an immersive experience with a mind-bending and compelling narrative, rich environments, groundbreaking combat, future tech, and high-speed chases.
Benzies left Rockstar Games after a falling out with the leadership. He founded Build A Rocket Boy in 2016 in Edinburgh, Scotland, with studios in Budapest and Montpellier. Build A Rocket Boy’s team includes hundreds of people with the shared vision to create new and innovative entertainment experiences.
To oversee MindsEye’s global publishing services, including marketing, localization, distribution, QA, and
game support, IO Interactive announces the creation of its third-party publishing division, IOI Partners. Channeling IOI’s continuous drive to create innovative games, IOI Partners’ mission is to deliver impactful entertainment through creative, quality-focused collaborations, bringing exceptional gaming experiences to players.
Why IO Interactive is publishing the game
It’s kind of a surprise that IO Interactive is still alive to publish Build a Rocket Boy’s game.
IO Interactive is an independent videogame developer and publisher with studios in Copenhagen, Malmö, Barcelona, Istanbul, and Brighton. As the creative force behind some of the most talked-about multiplatform videogames in the last two decades, IOI is dedicated to creating unforgettable characters and experiences using their award-winning proprietary Glacier technology.
IO Interactive has been around for more than 25 years. The company will develop and publish the very first James Bond origin story with the working title Project 007 and is currently developing a new IP under the codename Project Fantasy. IO Interactive, which thrived on the Hitman series, was acquired in 2004 by Eidos, and then Eidos was picked up by Square Enix in 2009. After working under Square Enix, the company’s management team staged a buyout and went independent again in 2017.
IO Interactive published its re-imagined Hitman game through Square Enix, and then it self-published its Hitman 2 and Hitman 3 games under its World of Assassination theme, which brought players back to the game over and over through games-as-a-service features, such as a 24-hour period to take out an Elusive Target somewhere in the world.
“Those games were a paradigm shift in the way we were thinking about making games,” Abrak said.
Those titles were hits and enabled IO Interactive to grow to more than 400 people and take on third-party publishing for games like MindsEye.
“It was a paradigm shift in the way we were thinking about making games,” he said. “Up until that point we were very much box product thinkers,” Abrak said. “We will work for years on this product, and when it comes out, we just hope the gamers would love it. We’re just not supporting it a lot. You’re just going on to the next thing.”
Three months to live
At the time of the management buyout in 2017, the company had just 178 people, and things weren’t looking good. Square Enix wanted to either divest the company or shut it down.
“When we took over, we only had three months to survive,” Abrak said. “It’s a complete different situation today. But back then, I had to let go of almost half of the studio. We did that rebound and came back with that journey with the 100 as I call it. With 100 people left, those three months turned into four months and five months. The defeat kept being pushed into the horizon.”
Now the company has not only survived, but it can publish its own games publish games for other companies. It is working on James Bond, and it has a “super ambitious” IP under way internally.
“It’s been hell of a ride. And I know it’s been tough in industry, and it is tough today to see a lot of people laid off. And so, in this time, to be able to be a triple-A independent developer is a very rare thing,” Abrak said. “You can count us on half a hand. To be able to be the strongest ever we’ve been, and being able to realize these dreams and and hopes we’ve had for for doing these things that we’re doing today, is it’s an absolute privilege.”
Square Enix saw some success with the episodic release of Life Is Strange. So it tried that out with the re-imagined Hitman. But Abrak believes that hurt sales. Gamers seemed to think it was weird to release it in such a fashion. But Abrak said the team built the very foundation of a long journey. It became about drawing players back with Elusive Targets that gave players 24 hours to assassinate a target. Often those targets were celebrities. And the audience grew from that.
“You have one chance, and it will be gone forever,” Abrak said.
It turned out that the best days of IO Interactive were ahead of it, not behind it.
Back to MindsEye
This is why Abrak is excited about MindsEye.
“The vision for MindsEye is something that we find extremely exciting, and we do find a lot of commonalities in not only delivering an experience once, but delivering an experience together and that universe that grows over time, like we’ve done with the World of Assassination,” Abrak said. “We’ve been talking with them for a while, and they’ve shown interest in what we’ve been doing.”
Abrak said that Build A Rocket Boy was working on things that were compatible with the way that IO Interactive was working. He said first and foremost that Build a Rocket Boy’s game is extremely appealing and exciting. And the team wants to evolve it over time, where the value for the gamer grows over time.
“With the most recent Hitman games,” Abrak said, “We started what we tried to call a first kiss and lasting love with our community. The idea was to have a close relationship with our communities, with our gamers. That is what we have done ever since 2016. And we are still going strong with that.”
Lots of secrets still
Abrak said it is a privilege to create a James Bond game from the ground up, starting with a story of the young Bond, and then imagining the expanding universe over time. And he said it was exciting to also create a new IP. Nothing has been announced about that, dubbed Project Fantasy.
As for Build a Rocket Boy’s previously announced game, Everywhere, Abrak said his company is not working with the developer on that. Build A Rocket Boy is not talking about that game now, even though it was tied to MindsEye in last year’s trailer. But Benzies has described the difference in the past. He said that Everywhere is more like a platform for players, while MindsEye is the game at the heart of it.
For the Build A Rocket Boy game, Abrak would only say that you could imagine “an expanding universe,” just like “the world of assassination.” He said, “Imagine that there will be more and more things to do and and more modes that will come into this universe. This is a big part of the core concept of the game being extremely appealing and the people that are working on it seeing it a something we believe in.”
As for the upcoming original IO Interactive projects, Abrak said, “The next big one is going to be different. There’s no dates to either one of these yet.” He said it won’t be long before IO communicates more.
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