Imagine being so down on your luck that companies are starting to offer just a dollar to buy everything you've worked so hard for. While this doesn't happen often, when it does, it's a gut punch, and that's likely how the famous Hitman studio, IO Interactive, felt many years ago.

A recent feature in Edge magazine sheds light on the studio's tumultuous past, revealing how close it came to being sold for as little as a dollar during a period of severe financial strain.

Back in 2016, the release of Hitman marked a pivotal moment for IO Interactive. Despite the game's eventual success, its initial performance failed to meet the expectations of its then-owner, Square Enix. This disappointment led Square Enix to consider selling the studio, pushing IO Interactive into a precarious position. Fortunately for the studio, the market's response was disheartening, with some companies offering a mere dollar to take over, due to the high operational costs and responsibilities involved.

It's interesting that nearly every western IP by Square Enix seems to struggle financially.

Hakan Abrak, CEO of IO Interactive, recalls this period as a particularly challenging time. The studio, under Square Enix's ownership, had not turned a profit for almost a decade, significantly diminishing its appeal to potential buyers. This is even after several relatively successful games from 2006 through 2015 with a live-action adaptation in 2007 that actually made five times more than its budget at the global box office. The proposals floated during this time included drastic measures like reducing the studio to a fraction of its size and pivoting Hitman to a free-to-play model, neither of which Abrak was willing to support - ironically, certain sections of Hitman World of Assassination trilogy have since become free to try for those interested.