IO Interactive, the studio behind the Hitman series and the upcoming 007: First Light, has announced the closure of its Istanbul studio and will part ways with an unspecified number of staff. The cuts follow the end of an external funding partnership—widely understood to be with Xbox—that had supported the development of the studio’s unannounced online fantasy RPG, codenamed Project Dragon or Project Fantasy. The game had been in development for several years under a co-financing arrangement that Microsoft has now terminated as part of a broader restructuring of its gaming division.

In a statement posted to social media, IO Interactive confirmed that it has regained full ownership of the project and its intellectual property. The studio intends to continue developing and funding the RPG independently while shifting its long-term focus toward internally financed AAA titles. “This has meant making changes as well as proposed changes across our studios: the closure of our Istanbul studio and starting a process to part ways with colleagues,” the statement read. IO explicitly moved away from pursuing external projects and potential mobile derivatives, describing the decisions as necessary to retain its independence as a developer and publisher. The studio pledged to support affected employees and asked the wider gaming community and industry to help identify opportunities for those impacted.

The move is part of a wider wave of cuts at Xbox under CEO Asha Sharma, who recently laid off 1,600 staff and announced plans to remove another 1,600 over the next 12 months. Multiple studios have left Microsoft, and Sharma admitted that the company’s gaming strategy had failed, partly due to disappointing Game Pass subscriber numbers. Internal documents revealed that Microsoft had expected Game Pass subscriptions to reach around 77 million this year and 100 million by 2030, but current figures stand at roughly 30 million. Sharma has since set a new goal for Xbox to reach a billion daily players, compared to its current annual reach of a billion.

IO’s broader roadmap also faces complications. The studio previously announced plans for sequels to 007: First Light, but Amazon now holds the publishing rights to the James Bond franchise, creating uncertainty around those projects. The situation echoes that of Romero Games, which lost Xbox funding for its own project last year and issued a similar statement about regaining ownership. IO Interactive retains studios in Copenhagen, Barcelona, Brighton, and Malmö, but the closure of its Istanbul location marks a significant downsizing as the company recalibrates for a fully independent future.

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