Hitman developer IO Interactive has made the decision to cut ties with the MMA fighter Conor McGregor after last week’s Irish High Court ruling where he was found to be guilty of assaulting and raping a woman in December 2018. The decision to cut ties comes shortly after a collaboration between IO Interactive and McGregor was confirmed, where he would be a character in the Hitman series called The Disruptor. His voice and likeness were used for the character, where he was featured as one of the game’s Elusive Targets. There was a mission available, as well as a DLC pack that would provide permanent access to an arcade contract featuring The Disruptor and new cosmetics. However, since the ruling, IO Interactive has made the decision to cut all ties and will be removing all content featuring McGregor from the game.
This statement was made via social media this afternoon, where IO posted their announcement on X. The statement goes on to say: “In light of the recent court ruling regarding Conor McGregor, IO Interactive has made the decision to cease its collaboration with the athlete, effective immediately. e take this matter very seriously and cannot ignore its implications. Consequently, we will begin removing all content featuring Mr. McGregor from our storefronts starting today.”
The Disruptor most recently returned to the Hitman game earlier this month as a limited-time mission that players would be able to participate in, with the mission set to be playable until 8 December. However, all of this will now be removed from the game. For those who own The Disruptor DLC, it hasn’t been stated what will happen to the content since it’s already been purchased. However, in cases like these, where content is removed regardless of circumstance, those who already own it tend to be able to continue to access it.
With the Irish Jury deciding what they did, McGregor was ordered to pay at least 248k Euro in damages. Despite this, he’s also said that he plans to appeal the verdict. As there’s no date as to when this will happen, it’s hard to say what IO Interactive would be able to do about the situation should McGregor be successful in his appeal of last week’s court ruling. For now though, people will no longer be able to purchase any content relating to the athlete for the unforeseeable.
