The upcoming launch ofHitman 3has been highly anticipated. IO Interactive’s upcoming stealth game will task players with performing creative assassinations across the world, with missions in Dubai, Berlin, and elsewhere. If the base game’s content wasn’t enough, however, IO Interactive will let players transfer missions from the originalHitmanandHitman 2to the new game. But after encountering issues, and kicking off a controversy, IO has gone ahead and madeHitman 1’s DLC initially available to all PC buyers.
The controversy has to do with the divide between PC storefronts Steam and the Epic Games Store, which isn’t the first or last time an issue has cropped up between the two. IO originally promisedHitman 3buyers that owningHitman 1or2would result in their content unlocking inHitman 3. That’ll still be the case on non-PC platforms, but the PC is different. That’s becauseHitman 3is an Epic Games Store exclusiveon PC and sharing details like game ownership between the two platforms isn’t simple.
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Further, there’s an even bigger issue to account for. That being thatHitman 2isn’t even available on the Epic Games Store. Even if IO is able to check with Steam to see if a player already ownsHitman 2, the content may not be readily available to transfer into players' accounts. IO will have to figure out a way to either releaseHitman 2on the Epic Games Store soon or will have to release a separateDLC forHitman 2contentinHitman 3. Either option taking a significant amount of time.
For now, IO’s response is to apologize to the community and to dedicate itself to finding an option that delivers the content as promised. To repeat, IO is guaranteeing thatHitman 3playerswill not have to repurchaseHitman 1or2on the Epic Games Store to get the content they should receive from owning the games on Steam.
IO says that its plan to provide this content toHitman 3buyers will roll out in the “coming weeks,” which isn’t much of a wait all things considered. In the meantime, IO will be providing access to theHitman 1GOTY Access Passto everyone who purchasesHitman 3within the first 10 days of release.
There was absolutely a burgeoning controversy ready to explode here. And to be fair to those frustrated by IO’s communication over the past several days, this is a problem that should have been fixed well before now. That said,Hitmanfans should be happy to see IO aggressively working to correct the problem. It may not be fixed byHitman 3’s launch, but it will apparently be fixed soon.
Hitman 3releases January 20 on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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