Hitman: Game of the Year Edition Removed from GOG cover

Hitman: Game of the Year Edition Removed from GOG, Apology Issued

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Published: October 8, 2021 12:12 PM

DRM-free game retailer GOG has announced that it has removed Hitman: Game of the Year Edition from its storefront due to customer complaints about its inclusion of online-only features.

The Hitman franchise has been around for quite some time, although its developer IO Interactive didn't always own it; the company separated from Square Enix back in 2017 and thankfully managed to retain its ownership of the Hitman IP.

Since then, IO Interactive has released a total of three games in the modern Hitman trilogy, each of which has some pretty cool online features. Unfortunately, the inclusion of these features in the recent GOG release of Hitman: Game of the Year Edition kicked off a review bomb and an intense discussion among customers about the definition of DRM. GOG has finally responded to the situation and removed the game from its storefront and issuing an apology.

Hitman: Game of the Year Edition Removed from GOG slice

Why Hitman: Game of the Year Edition Was Removed from GOG

As spotted on Reddit, GOG made the announcement that it had removed Hitman: Game of the Year Edition from its storefront while it continues discussions with IO Interactive about the game's online-only features.

Here is GOG's statement in full:

Dear Community,

Thank you for your patience and for giving us the time to investigate the release of HITMAN GOTY on GOG. As promised, we’re getting back to you with updates.

We're still in dialogue with IO Interactive about this release. Today we have removed HITMAN GOTY from GOG’s catalog – we shouldn’t have released it in its current form, as you’ve pointed out.

We’d like to apologise for the confusion and anger generated by this situation. We’ve let you down and we’d like to thank you for bringing this topic to us – while it was honest to the bone, it shows how passionate you are towards GOG.

We appreciate your feedback and will continue our efforts to improve our communication with you.

Unfortunately, there hasn't yet been an announcement for the return of the game to the storefront. Presumably, that hinges on how GOG's discussions with IO Interactive play out. Hopefully, GOG and IO Interactive will be able to hash out this problem and get the game back up on the storefront sooner rather than later.

Disclosure: GOG works with TechRaptor for affiliate partnership.

What do you think of GOG pulling Hitman: Game of the Year Edition due to customer complaints? Do you think online-only gameplay should be considered DRM? Let us know in the comments below!


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More Info About This Game
Learn More About HITMAN
Game Page HITMAN
Developer
IO Interactive
Publisher
Square Enix
Platforms
PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC
Release Date
March 11, 2016 (Calendar)
Genre
Stealth, Strategy
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