Hitman 3 Is Off To A Rocky Start
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Screenshot: IO Interactive
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You’ve probably heard this one before. A buzzy game hits the market. It demands some degree of internet connection. Everyone flocks to play on day one, only to hit a series of frustrating roadblocks. Online connectivity is shaky, if functional at all. There are issues with save data and character progression. Some players spring for upmarket versions say, an “Ultimate” edition and have trouble accessing the stuff they paid for. The developer fires off a series of apologetic tweets, says it acknowledges the situation and is “looking into it,” and publishes a FAQ addressing the most common issues with a string of answers that are thin, at best, and vague, at
If we re being brutally honest, the Hitman franchise has never quite lived up to its commercial potential. Starting in 2000 with Hitman: Codename 47, the series has always been admired by critics and game designers, but 20 years and seven different games never brought the breakout hit that often seemed to be just around the corner. IO Interactive managed to inspire a Hollywood movie, but it seldom exceeded its sales targets with any given release.
Indeed, with Hitman: Absolution in 2012, it fell a good way short of publisher Square Enix s commercial expectations. A few months later, IO announced it would be cutting half of its workforce and cancelling several projects, with a pledge to focus entirely on Hitman going forward. While fans of the series were delighted to hear that Agent 47 hadn t completed his last contract, these appeared to be troubling times for the Danish studio on the ropes, with no choice but to cling to the very franchise that had just publicly faltered.