Rocksteady working on new Hitman?

By Oli Welsh Published 12 August, 2009

Motion-capture actor's CV drops hint.

Where would we be without loose-lipped actors and concept artists? Joystiq has spotted an actor's CV which suggests that Batman: Arkham Asylum developer Rocksteady is to take the Hitman reins from IO Interactive.

Mark Sloan spent some time last year doing motion capture for a "Hitman 5 videogame" at "Rocksteady Limited", according to his website.

Denmark's IO created the Hitman series and has developed all the games to date. It's owned by Eidos, which also has a close relationship with Rocksteady, publishing both Batman and its enjoyable 2006 FPS, Urban Chaos: Riot Response.

It would be a departure for the popular Hitman games, although IO is busy with Mini Ninjas and a Kane & Lynch sequel, and Rocksteady is currently enjoying a healthy buzz around Arkham Asylum's brutal stealth gameplay.

That game is out in two weeks for PC, Xbox 360 and PS3. More at the Batman: Arkham Asylum gamepage.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (23) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • superjag86 #1 3 years ago

    If they can make being stealthy as Agent 47 half as much fun as it is for old Batsy I'll definitely be interested.

  • kangarootoo #2 3 years ago

    Fingers crossed for this. The last Hitman outing was probably the strongest of the lot. I was playing it again less than a fortnight ago, and still discovering new stealthy ways to off targets.

  • iamian #3 3 years ago

    Check out this guys webpage - He also played 'Dr Screw' on Playboy TV!

  • schnide #4 3 years ago

    As predicted, Rocksteady are the new darlings of the industry - well done lads.

  • smoothpete #5 3 years ago

    Hmmmmmm. Not sure about this. IO really nailed Blood Money, I would have let them crack on with it myself

  • Eighthours #6 3 years ago

    I have to say that, given both studios' recent output, this is a bloody great move.

  • SHPanda #7 3 years ago

    Eurogamer can you please stop reading articles off Kotaku and then rewriting them? The site is becoming more and more pointless as I have read all the stories you post over at Kotaku about 24 hours before you post them up. I wish I had your jobs though, must be a right lark getting paid to copy and paste articles from one website to another.

  • Optimaximal #8 3 years ago

    I hate to put a level head on everything, but EIDOS might just be using Rocksteady's mo-cap facility to save on costs.

  • Metalfish #9 3 years ago

    Blood Money's level design was without peer, I suspect IO would prefer to hold the reigns on this one. An excellent game that I commend you all to find on steam and download now if you haven't already played it -if nothing else it'll show you why a certain white wearing Ubi posterboy was actually a bit of a crap assassin.

  • kangarootoo #10 3 years ago

    "if nothing else it'll show you why a certain white wearing Ubi posterboy was actually a bit of a crap assassin."

    Neither character is actually real you know ;)

  • Metalfish #11 3 years ago

    I apologise for not clarifying that when I'm talking about a video game character I'm don't provide a disclaimer that they don't really exist. My mates Mickey Mouse and Dr Who are really ripping on me right now for the mistake.

  • UncleLou #12 3 years ago

    Blood Money's level design was without peer, I suspect IO would prefer to hold the reigns on this one.

    Yeah, with no offence to Rocksteady, it took IO years (and several games) to finally get it completely right in Blood Money, where the level design is a masterpiece. I don't like the idea of someone else now taking over.

  • Crazyreyn #13 3 years ago

    Anyone else think of Grey's Anatomy when they read the name Mark Sloan?

    Just me?

  • Jay-ITFC #14 3 years ago

    Went to a Batman preview event in London about a month ago where lots of the team that made the game were present. They said their next project was a big game that was still under wraps. Maybe this is it?

  • Moribundman #15 3 years ago

    Personally I'm excited at the prospect of a proper current gen (ie. not hamstrung by parallel PS2 development) version of Hitman. I'd be chuffed if IO's Blood Money Team OR Rocksteady's AA team produced it. Both are fantastic games.

    Kane & Lynch was bl**dy fu**ing cu**ing s**t though. ;-)

  • asphaltcowboy #16 3 years ago

    "Anyone else think of Grey's Anatomy when they read the name Mark Sloan?"

    Shouldn't you be thinking of Diagnosis Murder?

  • robg #17 3 years ago

    Glad to see Rocksteady's doing so well.

    But what happened to Bebop?

  • Moribundman #18 3 years ago

    My point was more about the swearing in K&L. I don't hate it but it was a disappointment next to Hitman.

  • IronCladChicken #19 3 years ago

    @smoothpete
    I thought DMA made blood money?

    The biggest unanswered question is where is the money?

    @schnide
    If the full Batman game holds up as well as the demo, I’ll be pretty impressed with them too :) (though hopefully Agent 47 won't take up as much screen real estate as Batman does)

    Edit:
    Is this thread dead? – Hopefully :)
    Psygnosis presents... a DMA Design game... <a href="http://www .youtube.com/watch?v=t98K3reeqG4">Blood Money!
    Edited by 2 at 14/08/09 @ 08:11

  • Moribundman #20 3 years ago

    @robg Did you know Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince of Bel Air did the voice for Shredder? ;-P

  • bad09 #21 3 years ago

    OK we've seen nothing, we know nothing, but right now I'm concerned. I'm concerned IO are not doing it themselves.

    I can't help that fear I love the Hitman games and I can't say I found the demo of Batman was that impressive gameplay wise TBH.

    / crosses fingers

  • PlugMonkey #22 3 years ago

    Kane & Lynch was bl**dy fu**ing cu**ing s**t though. ;-)

    I liked it. It started badly but then got better and better.

  • comissars_handgun #23 3 years ago

    I have no interest in Kane and Lynch, why the hell are they working on that and possibly handing off Hitman to someone else? I'm sure Rocksteady are talented but they don't have the history of making Hitman games. Would a Rocksteady Hitman have that classic Hitman magic?

    I want to see what IO can do with a truly next-gen Hitman because they did such a great job with Blood Money it seems madness to hand the franchise to someone else.