The director of Hitman: Absolution has apologised for the game's trailer, which featured scenes of sexualised violence against women.
The trailer for the game attracted criticism on social media and the press shortly after its release.
In the 'Attack of the Saints' clip, the game's hero Agent 47 is seen battling a cadre of nuns dressed in PVC outfits, including graphically breaking one woman's nose.
Some - including the majority of HuffPost readers in a poll - said they didn't take offence at the trailer, but now the game's director Tore Blystad has apologised.
In an interview with IGN, Blystad said the trailer wasn't intended to spark controversy alone.
"We’re sorry that we offended people – that was truly not the intention of the trailer," Blystad said.
"Of course we understand, this has been a very big topic for us and we’ve been reading as much as we could of the articles and responses.
"We were surprised that it turned into such a huge topic… We just wanted to make something cool, it wasn’t the intention to stir up anything."
He added that the trailer is based on a level in the game, in which the Hitman battles a group of female assassins.
"The Hitman games as a series has always been extreme in many ways," he added. "It tends more towards sixties exploitation movies – these were a fascination [for us] because they were so extreme."