00:00Project Fantasy is in turmoil after a publishing partner, which sources corroborate to be Xbox
00:04Game Studios Publishing, pulled funding for the online fantasy RPG from developer IO Interactive.
00:09The studios had a lot to celebrate recently. First Light is the best Bond game since GoldenEye,
00:14Hitman World of Assassination continues to grow, and there's a remaster of the original Hitman
00:18trilogy in production with Saber Interactive. The Xbox's priority shift under CEO Asha Sharma has
00:24cast a shadow over IOI's upcoming fantasy title, hitting the project's funds and therefore the
00:29game's staff and timeline. When we spoke with IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak in June 2026,
00:34he told us that development of this new adventure, an online fantasy RPG that draws creative inspiration
00:39from the fighting fantasy books, was progressing well. Hopefully the world will see the original
00:44IP that we're working on. We're going to reveal that soon. He added, it might be revealed sooner
00:49than you think, adding that the prospect was pretty damn exciting, with IOI finally establishing itself
00:53as a studio capable of maintaining multiple projects at once. Now it's likely that the next update
00:58we receive on the projects will be about who's funding it, rather than gameplay details. But for now,
01:03it seems like IO's fantasy of becoming a developer who can support multiple IPs at once has become more of
01:08a nightmare.
