IO Interactive Hitman Nuns Trailer: "We Don’t Want To Deliberately Offend Anyone"
IO "quite surprised" by reaction to controversial trailer.
IO Interactive has reflected on the controversy that flared up over the course of E3 following the release of its Attack of the Saints trailer for Hitman Absolution, where Agent 47 is seen pummelling some scantily-clad, rocket launcher-wielding nuns. The conclusion? While the studio doesn't want to offend anyone, it also wants to stick to its creative guns.
When asked if there was a fine line between creativity and controversy, and whether it was difficult to straddle such a line, IO's game director Tore Blystad opined, "When you’re creating something and putting it out there, there’s always going to be this unknown factor. You never know how people will actually respond to something.
"For us, the Attack of the Saints trailer is inspired by a part of the game. There is a level that starts like this, where these super-assassins from 47’s agency are attacking him with a rocket launcher... Obviously, if you know the Hitman games, you’ll also know that this is not an unusual setting. It’s always been this quite cartoony, extreme world where anything can basically happen and any element can be added to it.
"We were quite surprised about the controversy... I think we are trying to be, of course, as creative as we can with the game because we want to create a very diverse and fun experience for the players. We don’t want to deliberately offend anyone, or put them off the game, because that’s kind of meaningless for us. We want to create a game where people can be a part of this world, not put off by it."
Read more on this - and the interesting new Contracts Mode - in the full SPOnG interview, later today.
When asked if there was a fine line between creativity and controversy, and whether it was difficult to straddle such a line, IO's game director Tore Blystad opined, "When you’re creating something and putting it out there, there’s always going to be this unknown factor. You never know how people will actually respond to something.
"For us, the Attack of the Saints trailer is inspired by a part of the game. There is a level that starts like this, where these super-assassins from 47’s agency are attacking him with a rocket launcher... Obviously, if you know the Hitman games, you’ll also know that this is not an unusual setting. It’s always been this quite cartoony, extreme world where anything can basically happen and any element can be added to it.
"We were quite surprised about the controversy... I think we are trying to be, of course, as creative as we can with the game because we want to create a very diverse and fun experience for the players. We don’t want to deliberately offend anyone, or put them off the game, because that’s kind of meaningless for us. We want to create a game where people can be a part of this world, not put off by it."
Read more on this - and the interesting new Contracts Mode - in the full SPOnG interview, later today.
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