https://www.pcgamer.com/hitman-2-studio-had-to-let-a-lot-of-people-go-following-split-with-square-enix/

Io Interactive has spoken with Gamespot about its split from Square Enix last year, which "decided to withdraw from the business" despite the studio's success with Hitman. Associate director Eskil Mohl told the site that "it's sort of a miracle" that Io is still around, but said that the layoffs it was forced to undergo as a result of its unexpected independence has helped the remaining team members pull together.

Square Enix announced that it was divesting itself of Io Interactive in May 2017, a moment Mohl described as, "Oh shit, we're flying over the Atlantic and we don't have enough gas to get there. So what the hell do we do?"