Hitman studio IO Interactive has announced that it's ending its collaboration with MMA fighter Conor McGregor following a court ruling which found that McGregor assaulted a woman.
In a message on social media platform X, IO said that its Conor McGregor collaboration was ending "effective immediately". The studio followed up by saying it takes the matter of McGregor's victim's assault "very seriously" and that it "cannot ignore [the matter's] implications".
As such, all content involving McGregor will be removed from Hitman "starting today". The developer hasn't explained what will happen if you already own Hitman 3's Disruptor Pack, in which McGregor starred, but I'm assuming the content will be removed permanently from all storefronts.
If you haven't been keeping up with McGregor's trial, a jury recently found him guilty of assaulting a woman in a hotel in Dublin in 2018.
McGregor has been ordered to pay his victim Nikita Hand over €248,000 in damages, a result that Ms. Hand described as "a reminder that no matter how afraid you might be to speak up, you have a voice".
For his part, McGregor says he plans to appeal the verdict and that he's "focused on [his] future" for the time being.
The jury in McGregor's case heard a paramedic who examined Ms. Hand following the assault that they hadn't seen "someone so bruised" in a long time, while Ms. Hand herself said that she had spent over €4,000 on psychotherapy, pharmaceutical aid, and doctor's visits.
Conor McGregor's appearance in the Hitman games came as part of Hitman 3's The Disruptor DLC pack, which tasked Agent 47 with killing a martial arts fighter bearing McGregor's likeness.
Technically, the character in the game is never named as Conor McGregor, although he does clearly sport McGregor's face, as well as bearing a tattoo on his stomach that reads "McGregor".
