Hitman developer IO Interactive has announced that it has stopped working with MMA fighter Conor McGregor, who was added to the game as an Elusive Target in June, following a civil trial ruling that found him liable for assault against a woman who accused him of raping her in 2018. All content featuring his character in the game will be pulled from sale.
"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," the studio posted on X. "We 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."
IO confirmed that the court case in question is the recently-concluded civil trial in which he was ordered to pay more than €248,000 ($260,000) to a woman who accused McGregor of raping her in 2018. A BBC report says the trial included eight days of evidence and three days of closing arguments and judge's comments; the jury deliberated for more than six hours before delivering its verdict.
In a since-deleted message on X (via CBS), McGregor complained that the jury did not hear all the evidence in the case and indicated he would appeal the verdict. "The judge's instruction and the modest award given was for assault, not for aggravated or exemplary damages," McGregor said.
IO Interactive is clearly not waiting for that to happen. The trailer for The Disruptor Pack DLC featuring McGregor has been taken down, and the Disruptor Pack DLC itself has been removed from Steam, the Epic Games Store, and PlayStation Store, although for the moment it remains available elsewhere. IO said the content should be gone from all storefronts soon; The Disruptor Arcade mission included in the paid DLC pack will remain accessible to players who already own it, but new players will no longer be able to buy the DLC and thus will not have access to the mission.
McGregor was preceded as a celebrity Elusive Target by actors Sean Bean and Gary Busey and represented a high-profile get for IO Interactive, but also an inherently risky one. His numerous "controversies," as they're described on Wikipedia, include multiple instances of assault; he has also faced at least three other allegations of sexual assault, although none of the claims resulted in charges being filed.
