In less than a week, Hitman 3 is already profitable and sales have officially surpassed that of development costs for the latest IO Interactive game. 

Agent 47's return was both glorious and chaotic at the same time, launching to stellar reviews but a plethora of server issues. Now that things are a bit more stable, players of the stealth assassination game are diving right in and most are loving every moment. 

"We have been really happy with the Hitman 3 journey," IO Interactive CEO Hakan Abrak said in a recent interview with GameIndustry.biz. "It has been a labor of love between our fans and everyone at the studio. As the developer and publisher, we are immensely proud that we can say Hitman 3 is already profitable. We have recouped the total project costs in less than a week. That puts us in a really good place and allows us to confidently move forward with our ambitious plans for future projects."

Hitman 3 is a massive hit for IO Interactive, and not just for its reception. This game is the first full title to be completely self-published by IO and to see such a success from that release is a big deal for the company. 

Abrak also told the site that being able to self-publish entirely gave the team a focus that was previously missing, making it easier to deliver a game that fans could love and truly enjoy. 

After speaking to the game's marketing a bit, the CEO added "We demand of each other that our games are hand-crafted, meticulously detailed and unique. At this point, we'd be doing our community a disservice if we delivered anything less than that. They're used to us setting a really high bar for quality and memorable experiences, so we keep that mentality at the front of our mind, not only for Hitman but also our future projects."

To read the full interview, you can learn more about the road to launch right here. You can also check out some of our own gameplay while learning valuable tips with our beginner's guide, courtesy of our own Alex Van Aken. 

CD Projekt Red has released its first set of official modding tools for Cyberpunk 2077. Although fans have been modding the game themselves for a while now, these tools come straight from the source and offer, at the very least, a solid foundation for reshaping Night City into whatever form players see fit. 

The toolset itself isn’t the most robust, but CDPR says it will be “continuously updated” as future patches roll-out. It’s a lot of technical mumbo jumbo, so knowledgeable modders can take a look at the tools themselves and download them here. As previously mentioned, players have already taken upon themselves to mod their own additions and fixes to Cyberpunk 2077. That includes adding new hairstyles, a third-person perspective, and the ability to romance Judy as Male V.

This news comes after CDPR released the first of two major patches for Cyberpunk designed to improve stability among a myriad of other issues. The second big update is scheduled to drop sometime in February. The studio also offered a temporary fix for the Takamura conversation bug. CDPR has been in repair mode since the game launched in December to mixed reviews, with some loving the game’s design and narrative but decrying its poor performance, especially on last-gen hardware (which the game was marketed for). CDPR already has two class action lawsuits on its hands because of the problems. Still, between this news and the tease of DLC, it seems like the team has begun to transition to supporting Cyberpunk with content instead of just repairing its existing state. 

I can only assume having official tools will make the modding process easier, but those of you more tech savvy than I can smarten us up in the comments! Meanwhile, check out our reviews of Cyberpunk 2077 on PC and last-gen consoles. 

If you're one of the lucky ones who has been able to secure a PlayStation 5 in the early months of its lifecycle, your PlayStation Plus subscription is about to reward you. Not only is February's PlayStation Plus lineup giving subscribers the definitive version of Game Informer's 2019 Game of the Year, Control, but it's also adding an all-new PlayStation 5 game to your library on day one, as well as an often-overlooked PS4 gem with a touching story and clever puzzles. 

As previously mentioned, the February 2021 PlayStation Plus lineup kicks off with Remedy Entertainment's Control: Ultimate Edition. This version, which is cross-generational (meaning it works on both PS5 and PS4), includes the critically acclaimed base game, as well as the two expansions: The Foundation and AWE. If you're unfamiliar with Control, you step into the shoes of Jesse Faden, a women who travels to the Federal Bureau of Control in New York to search for answers about her past. However, right before she arrives, a mysterious force known as The Hiss invades, wreaking havoc on The Oldest House. Jesse must obtain and master newfound power as she steps into the role of the Director and attempts to fight back the Hiss invasion and uncover mysteries about what it is and how it's connected to her. The PlayStation 5 version utilizes the various features of the DualSense controller, and offers a 60 FPS performance mode or a 30 FPS graphics mode with ray-tracing. To learn more about Control, check out our coverage hub from when the game graced our cover in 2019. 

Next up is Destruction AllStars, an all-new demolition derby game exclusive to PlayStation 5. This 16-player online multiplayer game delivers four game modes (including the single-player Mayhem mode) that task you with causing as much chaos behind the wheel as humanly possible. If your vehicle isn't up to the task of pleasing the crowd, you can leave it behind and utilize your character's parkour skills to get the job done. Each character has distinct abilities, as well as a unique vehicle for you to master. 

Rounding out the February 2021 lineup is Concrete Genie. This adventure game from Pixelopus puts a magic paintbrush in your hand and tasks you with cleaning the polluted town of Denska. Once you clean the pollution away, you can use your Living Paint to create genies who use their powers to help you solve puzzles and escape the bullies that are chasing you. You can also throw on a PlayStation VR headset to enhance the experience.

Control: Ultimate Edition is available on both PlayStation 5 and PlayStation 4 from February 1 until March 1, while Concrete Genie is available for PlayStation 4 during that same time frame. Concrete Genie is playable on PlayStation 5 via backward compatibility. Destruction AllStars is available on PlayStation 5 from February 2 to April 5. Those who have thus far missed out on January's PlayStation Plus games (Maneater for PS5, Shadow of the Tomb Raider and Greedfall for PS4) have until February 1 to add them to their library.

[Source: PlayStation Blog, Thomas Puha on Twitter (1), (2)]

Magic: Legends graced the cover of Game Informer a while back, and now we have the date when all aspiring wizards and summoners can get into the mix. On March 23, PC players can jump into an open beta. On console? No worries, the game is still launching on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC later this year.

If you're on PC, you can get in on March 23 and start whacking away at classic Magic: The Gathering adversaries, make friends with planeswalkers, and craft yourself a powerful deck of summons and spells! One of the coolest things we had a chance to check out during our cover story trip was an overarching artificial intelligence "Director" that changes the pace of the game as you go to create intensity. Crushing the enemies too hard? Expect things to get harder as elite spawns come to ruin your day, but there are added rewards for the challenge. The ever-shifting risk-reward cycle that this director can conjure up based on how you and your friends are playing is an ambitious and interesting addition to the ARPG space, and I can't wait to try to break it in a bunch of different ways.

But before you go about trying to game the system, you'll need a deck. Yes, Magic: Legends utilizes cards from Magic: The Gathering to bring the action, but it's much more fast-paced than a cerebral tabletop face-off. Your deck constantly cycles through options, and you can build it any way you like, forming synergies with your selected planeswalker. There's even PVP if you want to take on other players for rewards, but much of what we have seen so far boils down to open-world style maps, campaign experiences, and bite-sized "ordeals" which give the players a quick goal that leads to a boss battle. Ordeals are gameplay-oriented get in, get loot, get out runs which are perfect for small blocks of time solo or with your crew.

Never played Magic: The Gathering? Interested in how the classic card game translates into the fervor of the ARPG? Check out a new deckbuilding video from Cryptic that helps explain just how deckbuilding works in this new take on Magic: The Gathering.