New Hitman will be a "full" game
Square Enix executive wants the new Hitman to be a "full" game.Square Enix Europe CEO states that gamers do not want an incomplete Hitman title. This means once the game is purchased, there will be no microtransactions of any kind. The new Hitman will be coming out December 8th, 2015. The new game will be available for PC, Xbox One, and the PS4. This game will be released episodically, much like the Telltale's Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us.
Square Enix Europe CEO states that gamers do not want an incomplete Hitman title. This means once the game is purchased, there will be no microtransactions of any kind. The new Hitman will be coming out December 8th, 2015. The new game will be available for PC, Xbox One, and the PS4. This game will be released episodically, much like the Telltale’s Walking Dead and Wolf Among Us.
The last installment of the franchise was Hitman: Absolution, and this game has 11 microtransactions available. Square Enix has had microtransactions for several of their games such as Tomb Raider Final Fantasy 13, Thief, and Sleeping Dogs. The microtransactions were mostly costumes or extra weapons. I think those types of downloadable contents should’ve been unlockables in the games. Costumes and weapons shouldn’t be paid for in video games.
Phil Rogers, Square Enic Europe CEO, stresses that the day one version of the new title will be a complete game. He seems to be implying that this game will be worth the $60. Phil Rogers wants gamers to know this, so they know they aren’t paying for an “unfinished” game. In an interview with GamesIndustry, Phil Rogers stated, “Gamers don’t want unfinished content, so we’re being very clear. This is going to be AAA, polished – Hitman as you’d expect. But we can continue to create experiences, so the world only expands. We’re experimenting.”
Phil explains that in Just Cause 2 they stopped working on the world 3 months before the game was shipped. Gamers have been playing around in that Just Cause 2′ world for 5 years. Phil believes if they worked longer on the game it could’ve been more enjoyable to games. This shows that he is thinking of how to make the latest Hitman installment a game that will be played for years after its release.
He goes on to explain,
That works very well for Hitman, that world and that gameplay in particular. But for all of our games we’re looking for ways to expand and to get more content to consumers. If there’s stuff we can share and ideas to bring across, we could use them in different games.”
In the future, then, the lulls in the pattern of AAA releases won’t necessarily disappear, but the perception of when a single game experience begins and ends will be very different. For a company like Square Enix, Rogers says, exploring that path is vastly preferable to a Just Cause game every 18 months.
I hope Square Enix will continue to release games that are complete, and will not have microtransactions. If they are going to make dlc, they should make an expansion worthy of gamers’ attention and money.
Rogers also explains that they do not annualized their franchises. They do this, so they can reflect on what worked, and what didn’t. “In some ways it’s like a natural order. It’s how we like to work.” Rogers seems to have a grasp on what to do in order to make their games better than ever.