Hitman Delayed – IO Interactive Release Statement

IO Interactive has confirmed the latest entry in the HITMAN franchise will be delayed to March 2016. The studio released a thorough statement which reads:

“Moving a launch date is never an easy decision, we know it’s frustrating to have to wait a bit longer for the game, but we truly believe it will mean we can deliver a better launch and overall experience,”  

“We’ll share more details next week about the full release schedule and scope of HITMAN in general so keep a look out for that.”

“On top of that, we’re going for a new release model where we put out a good chunk of the game when it begins and then release the remaining locations over time. We want to make absolutely sure you all get the best possible experience when you join, so we’ve made the difficult decision to move the initial release date to March 2016.”

“These few extra months will mean we can add more to the launch content of the game, more than we had originally planned, and then follow with a tighter frequency of updates, which ultimately will create a better game for everyone. And in the end, that’s what we’re all looking for.”

HITMAN is set on a mammoth scale with various post-release content updates planned. For example, ‘The Showstopper’ level is six times larger than ‘Streets of Hope’ from HITMAN Absolution. The level size increase is phenomenal and could help explain a reason for the delay.

In a similar vein to upcoming Deus Ex title, HITMAN should launch with DirectX 12 functionality. If a delay is needed to optimize the API, then it should be well worth the wait.