Strip away the negative connotations that have now become synonymous with Early Access and the core concept behind opening up an unreleased video game to the public boasts massive potential. In doing so, developers can tap into a pool of public QA testers and gain crucial criticism that eventually loops back into the final product. However, unpolished projects and elements of fraud soon sullied Steam’s game-changer and the term itself, hence when IO Interactive refrain from associating it with its upcoming Hitman reboot.
What has drawn this comparison is the studio’s method of approach; rather than dropping the entire title in one fell swoop, IO plans to release content for the shooter incrementally after launch. Now, before you grab your pitchforks, Hitman‘s price will be locked at $60, and there are currently no plans to implement microtransactions.
According to Studio Head Hannes Seifert, “everything we launch will be finished, polished and completed. When people hear Early Access they often think unfinished, unpolished and buggy. That’s the opposite [to what we’re doing]. So as I don’t mind the actual word, I mind the associations that many people have with that, and we think that could drive people in the wrong mindset because that’s not what we’re going to do. It’s going to be extremely polished.”
IO Interactive will release Hitman digitally across PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on December 8, supplemented by additional content, missions and weapons in the months to follow before a complete physical version lands in early 2016.
Published: Aug 11, 2015 5:21 PM UTC