Eidos Interactive announces that they are acquiring Danish developer IO Interactive, creators of the Hitman series:

EIDOS ANNOUNCES ACQUISITION OF IO INTERACTIVE
Eidos, one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, announces that it has reached agreement to acquire IO Interactive, the Danish based studio responsible for the hugely successful Hitman franchise.

The acquisition of IO secures the future rights of the Hitman series and significantly strengthens Eidos' European creative base and development resource. In addition, the deal will facilitate the use of IO's leading edge technology platform across the Group, which will play a key role in the development of next generation titles.

Hitman: Contracts, the third instalment [sic] in the multi-million unit selling series, will be released on April 30th for PlayStation 2, Xbox and PC.

Mike McGarvey, CEO of Eidos, says:
"We welcome the IO team of outstanding, technically creative developers, who we know share our vision and values. The relationship and experience we have already shared over the past five years gives us great confidence in their ability not only to maintain the outstanding success of Hitman, but also to develop new titles of unique IP. In addition, their market leading technology will be a key element in the Group's transition to next generation platforms."

Janos Flösser, Managing Director of IO Interactive, says:
"Eidos is an ideal partner for IO with an inspired and successful management team who share a similar production and development ethos to our own. We are delighted to take our existing relationship to the next stage. We will look to continue producing successful franchises, such as Hitman, and help to define a winning technology platform which has the potential to be more widely used across the Eidos studios."