IO has recognized the performance challenges affecting Hitman: World of Assassination - Signature Edition that have overshadowed its debut as a launch title for the Nintendo Switch 2.

As one of the few third-party releases meant to highlight the new console's capabilities in handling graphically demanding current-gen games, the port has faced criticism due to numerous technical difficulties. In our impressions, we observed that the uncapped frame rate led to "inconsistent" performance that "varies significantly," surprisingly improved in handheld mode thanks to the display's built-in Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) support.

In a VGC interview, IO's franchise director Jonathan Lacaille addressed these challenges, stating, “The team is actively working on these performance issues right now, with plans to address them over the summer." However, an exact timeline for when these fixes will be implemented has not been specified yet.

Lacaille also took the chance to ease concerns about 007 First Light, which is currently being developed for the Switch 2 alongside other, more powerful platforms.

“This experience is certainly a valuable lesson for us to apply to First Light as well--all of these learnings will be integrated into our next project.”

The Hitman series previously made its way to Switch 1 with a cloud version of Hitman 3, as well as a port of the older title Hitman: Blood Money, but Lacaille reassures that "the Switch 2 is a robust device--sufficiently powerful for us to bring First Light to it natively.”

The Switch 2 version of Hitman: World of Assassination isn't the only recent IO release troubled by technical problems. The company also released MindsEye from developer Build A Rocket Boy, which has become one of the year's most poorly reviewed games, with performance issues so severe that PS5 players were obtaining refunds from the PlayStation Store.

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