Summary
- IO Interactive drops its partnership with Conor McGregor from Hitman: World of Assassination in light of the recent court ruling against the MMA fighter.
- McGregor appeared as The Disruptor in one of Hitman: World of Assassination's Elusive Targets missions.
- All new sales of Hitman: World of Assassination content featuring McGregor have ceased, and related trailers have gone private.
Hitman series developer IO Interactive has announced the immediate removal of all content featuring MMA fighter Conor McGregor from sale. This decision comes in the wake of a recent court ruling against McGregor, who appears in Hitman: World of Assassination as part of an Elusive Target mission.
Last week, McGregor lost a civil rape case in the High Court of Dublin, where a woman was awarded €248,000 (nearly $260,000) in damages after accusing him of sexual assault. While McGregor has denied the allegations and intends to appeal, the case has drawn a lot of public scrutiny towards him. Many of McGregor's partnerships with brands and companies have fallen into question as well, including his collaboration with IO Interactive for Hitman: World of Assassination, a collection of all three mainline Hitman games with bonus content.
McGregor appears in Hitman: World of Assassination as The Disruptor, an Elusive Target introduced in the latest Free Starter Pack on November 15, 2024. This mission tasked players with taking down McGregor’s character, a multi-millionaire MMA fighter involved in the secretive Ark Society. Alongside the free mission, IO sold a $5 DLC pack featuring permanent access to The Ostentatious arcade contract, a new outfit, and cosmetic items. This content was all scheduled to remain available until December 8, but has now been pulled from sale.
IO Interactive Wipes All Traces of Conor McGregor's Association With Hitman: World of Assassination
Over on Twitter, IO Interactive issued a statement on November 25 to inform players of its decision to remove all Hitman: World of Assassination content pertaining to McGregor, citing the recent court ruling. The studio emphasized that it takes the matter very seriously and has made all trailers advertising the McGregor content private. While new sales of McGregor-related content have been terminated, IO clarified that Hitman: World of Assassination players who already own the content would retain access to it indefinitely.
While McGregor, as well as many of his fans, continue to doubt the court ruling and hope to overturn it with an appeal, IO Interactive's stance seems sensible to avoid undue controversy at the moment. Given that IO Interactive is currently working on a James Bond game that it hopes will launch a trilogy, the studio likely wants to preserve its goodwill as much as possible. It remains to be seen if IO Interactive changes course on its decision to remove McGregor's content in Hitman: World of Assassination should the MMA fighter's appeal be accepted.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 85 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- January 20, 2023
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Use Of Drugs And Alcohol, Blood, Strong Language, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Drug Reference
- Developer(s)
- IO Interactive
- Publisher(s)
- IO Interactive
WHERE TO PLAY
Enter the world of the ultimate assassin.
BECOME AGENT 47 - Suit up for a spy-thriller adventure where all your deadly abilities are put to the test across more than 20 locations.
FREEDOM OF APPROACH - Your deadliest weapon is creativity. Unlock new gear and up your game on highly replayable missions.
WORLD OF ASSASSINATION - Travel a living, breathing world, filled with intriguing characters and lethal opportunities.
HITMAN FREELANCER - A new way to play on your own terms, that combines rogue-like elements and deep strategic planning with a persistent and infinitely replayable gameplay experience.
HITMAN World of Assassination brings together the best of HITMAN, HITMAN 2 and HITMAN 3 including the main campaign, contracts mode, escalations, elusive target arcades and featured live content.
- Engine
- Glacier engine
- Franchise
- Hitman
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC
- How Long To Beat
- 24 hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- File Size Xbox Series
- 84 GB (November 2023)
