IO Interactive considering sequel to Hitman: Sniper Challenge

Due to the overwhelmingly positive response to Hitman: Sniper Challenge, developer IO Interactive has expressed interest to explore that style of gameplay further.

"The response to Sniper Challenge has been incredible," art director Roberto Marchesi told CVG.

"I can't go into detail, but yes, we're definitely interested in exploring that gameplay. The response isn't falling on deaf ears, let's put it that way."

Sniper Challenge, a bonus for gamers who pre-order Hitman: Absolution, is a score-based challenge against the clock to eliminate arms boss Richard Strong Jr and his security team from afar in the cleanest and most interesting ways possible. Players compete on global leaderboards, with the highest scores currently sitting in excess of 5 million points.

"The highest score we know about is past five million but our highest score internally was only in the high three millions. What we know is that, to get the highest scores, the first nine shots aren't aimed at anyone. They're all distraction shots, putting people in the right places."

While the highest scores have been accused of taking advantage of glitches and other unfair advantages, Marchesi has said that the company are keeping a close eye on the data obtained from the challenge.

"I'm not sure I should talk about this, but our metrics are a really good way for us to understand the game because some kills happened in places we never expected at all," Marchesi explained.

"And to get that five million score, they restarted many times!"