Well-known German publication, GameStar, has said that it’s heard from reliable sources that Io-Interactive will retain rights to the Hitman franchise following its departure from Square Enix. In case you missed it, the house of Final Fantasy recently announced that it was looking to sell the studio.

GameStar also claims that Hitman Season 2’s development is halfway complete and it’s expected to arrive sometime in 2018. Apparently, Io is currently looking for an investor.

The publication seems very sure of its information, and some Reddit users from the region have vouched for its reputation and accuracy of past leaks. However, we understandably await official confirmation so do take this one with a grain of salt, as usual.

Io-Interactive is expected to release a statement on recent developments next week. Friday was a public holiday in Denmark so the studio will resume business on Monday. “There’s a lot going on right now and we’ll have more to say at a later point,” Io said on Thursday.

We’ll update our readers when we have more info.

[Source: GameStar via Reddit]