Hitman dev breaks down how Jacksepticeye free mission came to be

Hitman: World of Assassination's latest free elusive target mission tasks players with eliminating Finn Colton, a popular content creator with a dark secret.

Released earlier this week as a free content update, the new mission The Host takes players to Colton's secluded home in Hawke's Bay to eliminate the target.

Colton is played by popular YouTube and Twitch streamer Jacksepticeye.

Jacksepticeye, real name Seán McLoughlin, was first featured in an IO Interactive game with a small cameo he had in 007 First Light earlier this year.

IO Interactive's Eskil Møhl says the process of booking McLoughlin for Hitman was relatively straightforward.

"People [at IOI] who had worked with him on Bond had only like very positive vibes about him. And then, you know, the contact was established. So it seemed like, hey, this could actually be good. And, you know, then these ideas start going around people's heads about what we could do and then suddenly there was a very interesting story where he would just fit in so nicely."

The process of working with McLoughlin to develop the character was relatively easy according to Møhl, who the 36-year-old streamer as a person who fully embraced the scenario of being a parody of modern internet culture.

"I think that was the initial worry that we would make him be a character that was so close to his own persona in a sense, or at least work environment, that it would be too much or, you know, are we getting too close or making a mockery of what he does. But there was nothing like that at all.

"He's a big Hitman fan and he said 'you guys do your worst' and 'I am totally with you on this', so it was actually amazing and he was very conscious about the whole phenomenon of online content creation and how that can, you know, there's good stuff out there and bad stuff out there, but he was all in on that and he came with a lot of the ideas."

Read More: 5 ways we killed Jacksepticeye in the latest Hitman DLC

Colton is a parody of modern internet personalities

Møhl adds that although Colton is "really not a good person, like he's really, really bad," the character has a differing public persona that he shows on camera.

"Honestly he was just like 'I'm with you all the way' and basically the part where he's collaborating and putting his own experiences in there so we could get certain things right was new to us and super refreshing."

In terms of the kinds of restrictions that come with using a celebrity's likeness, Møhl says "it depends really on the persona or the character. Are they playing themselves? Are they playing a role which can make something sometimes I can't die? So then we have to work around that.

"For instance, when we did the Bruce Lee mission, you know, we have this hero character, Bruce Lee, he's not with us anymore and I don't think any of us really wanted to kill him. That would feel awkward. So we had to work around that and we wanted to as well because we were like, we don't want to kill Bruce Lee. That would feel bad. So instead he became sort of a partner for 47."

Møhl says that the target he had the most fun working on was The Banker, featuring Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen reprising his role as Le Chiffre from Casino Royale. "It's fun, I remember Mads Mikkelsen, the Danish actor who played Le Chiffre. It was amazing working with him because he was saying 'My son so wants to kill me so this is gonna be awesome for him'."

Hitman: World of Assassination's The Host elusive target is out now across all platforms.