IO Interactive has made a new announcement for Hitman 3, the finale to their World of Assassination trilogy. For PC Players, Hitman 3 will be an Epic Games Store exclusive, meaning that at launch, the only platform you'll be able to download it from will be Epic's.
This is part of a continuation of a strategy of Epic to secure high profile and high quality games for their storefront on a timed exclusivity basis to help drive traffic. Based on numbers they've released before, in conjunction with their other strategy of free games, it seems to be working to make the platform a player in the marketplace. Speaking of free games, there's more of that here as well, as 2016's premiere of the World of Assassination Hitman, will be free on the Epic Games Store on August 27, through September 3 for players to add to their account and keep.
The World of Assassination trilogy has also seen Hitman developer IO Interactive on quite a journey. For the first game, it was released when the studio was owned by Square Enix. A mess of business model decisions early on, and apparently not hitting Square Enix's financial goals, led to the studio going independant and taking hte IP with them, and Hitman 2 was published by Warner Bros Interactive. For the first time though, Hitman 3 will be self-published by IO Interactive, as they aim to take greater control of their destiny. Hakan Abrak, CEO of IO Interactive commented on the decision:
"Self-publishing HITMAN 3 is a big step for IO Interactive in achieving our highly ambitious goals as an independent studio. Furthermore, this partnership with Epic has given us the freedom to create the game exactly as we imagined, for our fans and for our community uncompromised. For our long-term fans that have supported us on the World of Assassination journey, we’re happy to have mastery and location carryover from their existing progress into HITMAN 3 on Epic Games Store.”
New information on Hitman 3, was also revealed today, as the developer and publisher IO Interactive revealed the Dartmoor location and England's Thornbridge Manor in a trailer you can see below:
Hitman 3 is releasing in January 2021, and on PC will be exclusive to the Epic Games Store.
What do you think of Hitman 3 being an Epic Games Store exclusive? Do you feel strongly about launcher exclusives? Let us know in the comments below!
