007 First Light’s developer lays off staff but claims its next franchise will continue

Business

IO Interactive, the studio behind the Hitman series and 007 First Light , announced that it is laying off staff after a relationship with an “external partner” on its next big franchise, Project Fantasy, “has come to an end.” IO has described Project Fantasy as an “online fantasy RPG” , and Kotaku and Bloomberg report that Microsoft, which is planning significant cuts as part of a broader “reset” of the Xbox business, was going to be the game’s publisher. It’s unclear how many people will be