The team behind HITMAN released a Q & A to address the questions and concerns of fans of the franchise. HITMAN is touted not as a reboot, but as “a pure Hitman experience and the foundation for future HITMAN games.”
IO-Interactive plans to release HITMAN on December 8th of this year, though it will only be available through a digital download. There are plans to release a physical copy of HITMAN in 2016, but the planned date is not revealed.
The HITMAN that released on December 8th will not be the full game, however. It will include a “sizeable chunk” of the full product, but additional content, in the form of new missions and locations, will be released throughout 2016. HITMAN will cost $60, and this additional content is set to be included in that price, not as paid DLC.
IO-Interactive states that HITMAN is not an early access game and will be a finished and polished product. And while the story arc will be released periodically throughout 2016, they also state that they do not plan to turn HITMAN into an episodic game; this distinction seems to be because of name only, and IO-Interactive not wanting players to get the wrong idea from their release plans.
“We think the word ‘episodic’ sets up the expectation that we will sell individual content drops for individual prices but that’s not something we're planning to do.”
-HITMAN Q & A Blog
While trying to avoid being early access or episodic, IO-Interactive also claims the game will be developed after release in response to player action and feedback. They plan to create all new content and special events based on feedback received from players.
Most parts of HITMAN will be able to be played offline, but the live events they plan to create through player feedback will require an internet connection.
