Today, Denmark-based developer IO -- the developer behind the recent Hitman -- has announced a round of layoffs.As you may know, back on May 11th, it was revealed that Square Enix was divesting ownership of IO Interactive, aka it was looking to sell it. According to the Japanese developer and publisher this was done to narrow its focus on key franchises and studios; and clearly IO Interactive was not one of these studios.This naturally led to questions regarding the future of not only IO Interactive, but Hitman as well, which was expected to get a second season of content sometime in the near future. Square Enix has said it has begun discussions with new investors that could possibly pick up and purchase IO Interactive; however, whether the Hitman IP would go with or be retained by Square Enix remains to be seen.Many expected IO Interactive, coming of the success of the recent Hitman, to be gobbled up very quickly; however, this doesn't appear to be the case, or at least nothing publicly has been presented that suggests the developer has found a new home or new investors.All of that being said, today the developer announced a round of layoffs (how many employees were affected by these layoffs, wasn't divulged) via the following tweet:

It's worth nothing that the decision to downsize may be directly linked to a potential acquisition, as whoever may be intersted in the studio wants it slimmed down to mitigate things such as risk and cost, but at this point it's hard to know.

Square Enix notably acquired IO Interactive when it purchased its parent company Eidos Interactive in 2009. Alongside Hitman, the developer is also known for developing the Kane & Lynch series.

DualShockers would like to wish all the best to those affected by said layoffs.