Hitman will be released as a fully episodic title, with a major online mode. The first ‘prologue’ episode will be released on March 11, 2016.

　　A few days ago, PS4 players who pre-ordered the game, noticed that their pre-order was cancelled due to a major change in the release structure of Hitman.

　　Overnight, IO Interactive and Square Enix explained their decision for this major change.

　　“We decided to take the full leap and publish HITMAN as a truly episodic game experience,” said Hannes Seifert, Head of Studio at Io-Interactive. “Part of that decision is for that little bit of extra time to ensure every location we release is at the quality level fitting for a HITMAN game.

Hitman released in episodes to create a "living game"

　　But the main driving reason is that this will allow us to create a living game that will expand and evolve over time and establish a foundation for the future – this is the first game in a storyline which will continue and expand with future Hitman games.

　　On the official Hitman website, IO Interactive gave some more details about Hitman’s new release structure:

　　“The first game is part one of a storyline we see expanding over the release of subsequent games - so we want to make absolutely sure we get things right for what will be a great Hitman experience expanding over the coming years. This first step is going to shape what the games will ultimately become”

　　“HITMAN will still launch on March 11th and that initial launch will include the Prologue and the Paris location. The big change is that the next location, set in Italy, will now release in April and then Morocco will release in May. From there we will keep monthly content updates coming, including the three additional locations we have already announced; Thailand, the US and Japan until the season concludes in Japan later in 2016. The weekly live events and additional planned content will give you plenty to do in the time between location releases”, reads the official statement from IO Interactive.

　　TO learn more about Hitman and its new episodic structure, check out the official Hitman site.