Hitman’s Episodic Release Could Be the Future of Square Enix Games

CraveOnline: "Square Enix and IO Interactive have made the decision to turn Hitman into a fully episodic game, indicating that the publisher could be looking to release more of their AAA games in a similar fashion in the future."

[Kalebninja]

"indicating that the publisher could be looking to release more of their AAA games in a similar fashion in the future"

No it does not indicate anything, you're just assuming based off of nothing. I don't doubt that they'll have future games that release as episodes, like LiS 2 which is already confirmed but that doesnt mean theyre going to start chucking everything out in episodes. Also FF7 is not being released as actual episodes its being released in multiple parts as full games.

[-Foxtrot]

"but that doesnt mean theyre going to start chucking everything out in episodes"

Well we don't know do we...and if we don't know they aren't then we don't know if they will

Fact is, when a shitty practice comes into play which you don't like you be vocal regardless because you don't want them to actually do this to their other games.

[Bansai]

If we don't support this business model, it will quickly go away.

[Erik7357]

Honestly whatever way makes them more money, and whatever game it works for , which means any game that generets more sales in that fashion they will do that....its a company man not a gamer lol

[SolidStoner]

lets hope not, I want them to generate "open world stealth mission based Hitman" games not money!

[Relientk77]

And I'll just wait for the complete editions/collections because I'm not paying separately for episodes

[Erik7357]

So you wanna drop 60ish dollars on a game you dont know if you will like instead of just trying a portion of it for 5 bucks?

Okay

[Chivas11]

Or instead of paying $5 to play a portion of the game how about they release a demo instead

[pompombrum]

Is that what they are doing with Hitman? Charging full price up front to drip feed it in episodes? Yeah, not a chance in hell would I do that. If it's similar to say Life is Strange though where you buy in episodes for a cheaper price, I could warm to that providing it provided enough content for the price.

[Kryptix]

@Fries1223
Thing is, franchises like Hitman and Deus Ex never started in episodic format. They were already doing great in the same format of previous releases. Makes no sense to chop it all up now and I rather have a full game of this caliber day one than wait a span of 7-12 months to get everything.

Also, most people would want to go from game to game than on and off for a very long period of time to finish it. One map every one month is nothing.

[aPerson]

@Fries1223
And how is that any different from ANY OTHER GAME?

[Erik7357]

People are just scared of change lmao

[Shiken]

There is a difference between being scared of all change and being able to recognize when a certain change isn't so great.

[Shiken]

I will be voting with my wallet and just not buying it at all. Nothing worse than getting hooked on a game just to be hit with "to be continued". Give me a complete product, and I will give you my money. That is how it works.

[2pacalypsenow]

A future I want no part of

[Erik7357]

Honestly I wouldnt mind putting 5-10 dollars for a game trying it instead of throwing in 60.

People should be open to trying this new format.

Hell a indie devloper named tell tale does it all the time but no one bitches about it and call them the best games in the world 😂

[Darth_Apathicus]

Yeah! Lets start charging $5 for demos!

[Rimeskeem]

How bout no.....

[Rookie_Monster]

Is final FANTASY 7 remake going to follow this route? Hmm

[scark92]

I heard it is

[ShadowKnight]

Final Fantasy 7 is way more mainstream and more popular than Hitman especially in Japan. I think FF has a better chance going this route IMO.

[ritchi45]

FF7R is to be multi-part, not episodic similar to this or Telltale games for example.
The 'multi-part' aspect is likely similar to (eg) The Hobbit movies imo

[nommers]

@ritchi45

What is really the difference in that? It's broken up into parts, and FF7 is already one whole game with a beginning, middle and end. I have no doubt the parts can have a lot of content, but you won't be able to play the whole story from beginning to end until the whole game releases...which is the most important part of FF7; the story. Most people that will buy this game are people that already played the original FF7 too.

[Shiken]

They could also take the FF13 or FFX-2 route and they will expand on the story with future entries after the initial remake.

Fact is, they were so unspecific about it that no one knows till they show us more.

[ScorpiusX]

Whatever helps to pay the bills and stick around , am all for it .

[Darth_Apathicus]

Mobile is not going to kill consoles; this and re-re-releases will.

[immabadguy]

I'll wait for the full release on disk, thanks :)

[BLAKHOODe]

I'm a HUGE Hitman fan - probably my favorite franchise, but I'm even skeptical of this. I'll likely not buy into it Day One as I had planned, but sit back and see what kind of response it garners. Otherwise, I'll wait for the full disc release later this year before the holidays and maybe even get a huge Black Friday discount.

[aLiEnViSiToR]

Its like they are trying to sink lower then deepest debths of greed O_o, all they need now is that denuvo cr4p, overkill micro-transactions and your soul !

Gaming industry is turning into greedy draconian cesspool faster then speed of light...

[CptFalcon]

I'm shocked to see how fast the gaming industry has gone from a beatifull bussinness by gamers for gamers, to a milti billion dollar industry full of empty promisses.

Almost every franchise has became more and more casual and more of the same.

Most gaming news I read only saddens me.

[FN4GM]

Then I guess I wont be playing any more of their games.

[maelstromb]

The episodic approach is a delivery method which looks and sounds great on paper -- similar to Communism -- but in reality and implementation, fails nearly every time. It's true that Teltale Games has found success in this type of model, but I believe they might be the only exception. The fact remains that very few people actually enjoy consuming their entertainment in smaller segments because it inevitably means the majority of time is spent idly waiting, which I don't think anyone enjoys. And I believe it has a big potential to hurt the Hitman series in the long run because those who remain interested will merely wait until a large chunk of content has become available, or a definitive/complete edition hits digital shelves.

Besides, episodic content came about because publishers/devs were trying to limit the time of development cycles and reduce the upfront buy-in cost for consumers. However, it has been shown that the opposite has played out. Limited development cycles are only as good as the management teams enforcing them and with the rising costs of games (development costs + sticker price) and push for micro-transactions & season passes, consumers aren't really seeing much of a difference.