There’s a right way to get people to pre-order. What Hitman’s doing, is not it.

Trevor Coelho, Editor at Lizard Lounge, writes:

"A few hours ago, I read a press release about the Hitman beta that rubbed me entirely the wrong way. Everything in it rankled.

And it took me a while to figure out why. Here, I attempt – and perhaps succeed? – at explaining why the Hitman beta represents a preorder scheme done magnificently wrong.

If you have a different opinion, a differing opinion, do share. I’d really love to hear what you have to say."

[daBUSHwhaka]

Gonna miss this until the full package is released.Shame I'm a huge fan of the Hitman series, but the way that their dealing with the content put me off for a day one purchase.

[Lonnie18]

I'm really not pleased at how they are going about with the Hitman series. I mean the last one was great but that's just it this upcoming Hitman is all chopped up and who knows how long before they release the whole game throughout this year! I might as well just wait till they bring the retail version at some point because I do hate all the waiting between chapter releases.

[Omnisonne]

Exactly. I don't understand why someone would want to buy an episodic game over a full game.

Atleast with the full game you know exactly what you will be buying and how much content there is of it. While with episodic games you really just have to wait and see whatever they release next.
Sure one can decide whether to buy each episode or not, but it makes no sense buying half of the episodes as you would miss part of the story (given that there is one)

[lizardloungetrevor]

I think that's a big part of the problem. Most people who buy, I think, would probably get the whole thing in advance because it doesn't make sense to play one episode and miss out on the rest of the story.

But it feels like such a huge gamble in this instance because we know so little about Hitman and what the quality of the other episodes will be like. And, for that matter, when the other episodes are supposed to release.

[Dark_Crow]

I generally think preorders are wrong.
I'm never doing them again after being scarred a few times.

[lizardloungetrevor]

If you don't mind me asking, which games were you scarred on?

I'm somewhat picky with preorders myself. Only ones I've done in recent memory were The Witcher 3, X-COM 2, Deserts of Kharak. And the Torment early access so I could get my hands on the beta.

Essentially, names I've learned to trust a great deal. Heck, I'd preorder a Bioware game in a heartbeat.

[Dark_Crow]

Actually, bioware game called Dragon Age inquisition.
The game was awful in my opinion and felt more like a social agenda game then a bioware game.

Destiny. Arkham Knight.

No more preorders for me.

Bethesda games for instance. Im never worried about preordering on PC. Patches and fixes come instantly and I know what Im getting into.

But still wont be preordering anymore just in case.

[lizardloungetrevor]

Wow, yeah, that is bad. Haven't played Inquisition myself because it wasn't released in my corner of the world, but a friend was furious with Bioware for what they did with the ending and etc.

And the less said about Arkham Knight the better, I think. My condolences. That really sounds like a terrible preorder experience.

[extermin8or]

Tbf currently if you want to buy hitman in its separate parts you should end up paying roughly same as if you bought the entire lot now to get as it releases or wait for the final full thing on a disc at end of the year. I'd rather this than release the full game and a 25poujd season pass for minimal content to be added. What they are doing with this assuming they break it down correctly should be akin to watching a TV show as it airs.

[esmittystud101]

I think there marketing strategy for these "episode" games in general is of course developement extensions. Its probably there main reason but also to basically keep us more interested in the game all year long. Picture this. You get a Call of Duty game in November and they release all map packs, all dlc guns, ect. at that time. You would play it for probably two or three months and then you put the game down. Will you pick it back up again? Maybe. But there is always that chance you may not. Next year rolls around, you don't buy the game because you remember from last year, you played it for two months then put it down and never picked it back up.

If they release "episodes"/"map packs" all year long, it keeps you interested in the game all year instead of only two-three months. Wana know why I dusted Black Ops 3 off last week? They released three new mp maps and one new zombie map. I'm more interested with the game now, then I was before launch and even right after I got the game.

Now.......should they charge us for those "episodes"/"map packs"? Absolutly NOT. They are getting extra money out of all of us and know they will get it. I don't want a game if I only have a small amount of content compaired to other gamers. I don't have to have every piece of DLC a game has to offer.

But when it comes to games like COD, I just want all the map packs. Thats it. Games like Forza Horizon 2, I want all the cars and tracks. (Which in Forza costs you a fortune, and there "faulty" season car pass you pay for still doesn't get you all the cars all year. They charge you for more later if you want them.)

[Omnisonne]

Though both Cod and Forza are already full 60$ games once you initially buy them, allowing you to easily get a good few weeks of fun once released. The extras then are just a nice layer on the top.

But with episodic games, you get maybe 2-3 hours out of each episode? And then you'll have to wait another month or two for the next bit.

Iduno, I personally wouldn't be able to get into the game that way

[esmittystud101]

I'm not for episode games myself either. I own one of them, Life Is Strange, that is it. I bought it on disc with all content on there so I wouldn't have to wait for all the content to drop. I'm a huge fan of The Walking Dead, coulnd't pay me to play that episode game they had. I'm too in love with the characters on the tv show to enjoy anything made up in the video game. Same with Game of Thrones but it actaully has the characters in the game thats on the tv show but still, don't want anything to do with it. It would probably ruin the tv show for me more and I aint having that.

With COD, there maps to me are not "extra layer on top", type stuff. It is vital to have them for me. Why? Der Eisendrache zombie map for instance, came out last week, part of CoD's first DLC map pack drop. The map is crazy good. Crazy good to me is vital for this series. Maybe not all series, but this one for sure. Without the release of that map pack, I would not have picked CoD BO3 back up maybe the rest of the year. Activision doesn't like maybes.

I guess I could consider Forza's DLC cars an "extra layer on top". I'll give you that one. But take another game like, The Witcher 3. I have no idea what Hearts of Stone or any of there other huge DLC packs coming in the future will all entail. But if it continues the story from the main game, it is vital to have for me. Same with The Old Hunters DLC for Bloodborne, vital to have.

So yeah, sometimes you get games that DLC is an extra layer on top and isn't going to matter much on your enjoyment all round for the game. But other games have vital DLC that would make the game sour if I didn't have it.

Another CoD issue when playing with friends. Your trying to play the new maps.......but you can't because your friend doens't have the season pass and doens't have the map packs you do. This is a problem for us to play together.

[lizardloungetrevor]

I'm inclined to agree with the switch to episodic format being a development extension. It feels, in this case but not always, like the devs are saying, "This is the only piece that feels polished enough to release, play this."

[SlightlyRetarted]

As a huge fan of Hitman, this whole release plan saddens me. This game looks like a true sequel for Blood Money, game that i love dearly. First of all this episodic stuff. I like to play one game at a time. From start to finish, completing everything i want to do. Then i put the game in to the shelf and replay it in the future if i feel like it. So if i buy that "season pass", i don't want to end up into a situation where i'm knees deep into Dark Souls 3, DOOM or whatever and have a pressure to jump into Hitman once a month because i've paid for it. And what if i play first two episodes in 2 months so much that i loose all the interest of rest of the episodes? This whole episodic thing is just annoying.

Second question mark is content. Full priced game (in the end) has only 6 maps. That's almost half the locations that Blood Money had. I know locations seem larger and filled with a lot of unique ways to complete the mission, but still. Oh, and player created content is not "real content". Thing that a lot of devs should know.

So if i wait until end of the year and get the boxed copy, will i even be interested in it at that moment. It's coming out probably in Q4, so it's battling with ton of big games. And you are left out of all those developer made special assasinations (probably just "Contract" mode stuff made by the devs).

I'm afraid this will be a bargain bin buy sometime next year. I just hope that the devs don't whine that sales of Hitman 2016 were a dissapointment. It's most likely because of this release mess they've created.