The latest game in theHitmanfranchise turned heads when it was announced that the title would be releasing in an episodic format, rather than the standard all-in-one package that gamers were accustomed to. Although many took issue with the style of purchasing each individual mission seperately, the game quickly received a significant fanbase and left many questioning justhow well episodic gaming can work.
As it turns out, if the game is good enough, people won’t have a problem with buying it - a conclusion can be drawn now thatHitmanhas achieved an impressive 5 million players and counting. The news was announced by developer IO-Interactive on Twitter, who thanked the game’s community for its hand in making the latest in the long-running franchise a great success.
This announcement comes not long after the game’s first level was made free for all players across every platform, allowing stealth fans totrial the latestHitmanfor themselves before committing to buy the remaining levels. IO-Interactive, a recently fully-independent company after the split from Square Enix, seems committed to keeping theHitmanfranchise afloat and this decision might well have helped immensely towards this goal.
What’s more, there is anenormous amount of contentto be found in just the opening level of the game, giving the Paris setting a lot of replayability without even purchasing the rest of the episodes. IO-Interactive has put a lot of work into making each episode feel like a worthwhile purchase, which leads us to believe that the episodic format really works for this developer in particular - at least with theHitmanfranchise.
As for what’s next forHitman, the voice actor of Agent 47 himself has some thoughts about the direction the series should take. Pitching aPokemon GO-esque concept, David Bateson wonders how the latest advancements in technology could allow players to live out their ownHitmanexperiences, finding targets in the real world without being spotted by other participants.
It’s an interesting concept and definitely something we’d like to see explored in the future, but for now IO-Interactive can be proud of its accomplishments when it comes toHitman’s entrance into the latest generation of gaming.
Hitmanis out now for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
