Here’s why Square Enix went episodic with new Hitman

After 16 years, Square Enix and IO Interactive have changed the way Hitman will be handled from a release standpoint. The game, that had once been offered as a complete package at release, has now become the episodic model.

Square Enix was left wondering how to "bring Hitman really forward as a franchise" and they decided the answer was to move away from the "more linear, more story driven" approach that the series had with Hitman: Absolution.

"I felt that was not necessarily where [the series] was strongest because there are many narrative linear games out there," explained Hitman executive producer Hannes Seifer to GameSpot. "But there are very few where you can do what you can do in a Hitman game–a universe where you can actually change over time."

Seifer went on to detail that the decision to go episodic was not based solely on how to move the game forward, but also on allowing gamers into the Hitman community without having to spend $60.

"[That's] something I've personally wanted to solve for a very long time: how we make a triple-A accessible to people that cannot spend $60 [£40] on day one… as well as for those people that don't want to spend $60 on day one," said Seifert in another interview with Ars Technica.

"Still, the promise remains that if you spend $60 you will get absolutely everything. We will not have micro-transactions and we will not have additional DLC. The whole of season one is a $60 offering, but there are different ways to buy that."

Square Enix and IO Interactive are looking to use this model as the foundation of future games and are hoping that it allows them to produce more Hitman games at a faster pace than one Hitman game per console generation.

Under the new release format, Hitman will see a new Intro Pack — containing the Prologue and Paris levels — release at the price of $15. Each subsequent locations will be priced at $10 and released as an add-on item to the Intro Pack. Alternatively, you can purchase the Full Experience up front for $60; this will include all of this year's content as it's released. If you purchase the Intro Pack first, but decide later on to get everything the Full Experience offers, you can buy the Upgrade Pack for $50 (note: this would total $65, or $5 more than the Full Experience pack alone).