TheHitmandevelopers at IO Interactive have announced thatthe franchise will no longer be working with Irish mixed martial artist Conor McGregorin the wake of a sexual assault ruling.
Previously, McGregor’s voice and likeness had been part of a DLC package forHitman 3.
The DLC featured Conor McGregor as an elusive target called The Disruptor, a wrestler Agent 47 could becontracted to killas part of the Arcade Contract The Ostentatious.
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The Disruptorpackage also added a series of wrestling-themed cosmetics inspired by Conor McGregor’s real-life professional persona.
According toAssociated Press, on November 22, a civil court jury in Dublin awarded Nikita Hand almost €250,000 as the result of a sexual assault and battery incident said to have taken place in December 2018.
IO Interactive’s Statement
The verdict stirred discussion about the fate ofThe DisruptorDLC and what the bestcourse of actionwould be for IO Interactive in the wake of the news.
Earlier today, the company put outa statementthrough the official Hitman social media channels clarifying its position.
According to the communiqué,“IO Interactive has made the decision to cease its collaboration with the athlete, effective immediately”
The company reiterated that they “take this matter very seriously and cannot ignore its implications.”
As a result, IO Interactive"will begin removing all content featuring Mr. McGregor"from partnered storefronts, “starting today.”
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“He’s still very much in the heart of this company.”
At the time of the writing of this article,The DisruptorDLC is no longer on sale.
The PlayStation Store and the Epic Games Store have removed the listings entirely, and the previous links now return a 404 error.
Meanwhile, Steam and Xbox still list The Disruptor Pack, but the content is not available for purchase.
The reviews on the Steam listing are exclusively centered around the court case and today’s removal of the DLC, with little to no information relating to the gameplay.
IO Interactive is one of many companies in the gaming world taking a stronger stance around sexual assault and harassment. Earlier this year, Twitch introduced new chat features toprotect its creators.
Last year,major game development companies were implicated in sexual harassment investigations.
French authorities arrested five former Ubisoft executives over sexual harassment during their time in the company.
Following findings from the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, a discrimination lawsuit ordered Activision Blizzard and Riot Games to pay $118 million in settlements for years ofwidespread harassment of female employees.
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