Hitman 3 “Won’t Require Re-purchase” Of Previous Games On PC

If you are like many of us, you have seven hundred different accounts strewn across several platforms for everything between access to Twitter, those videos you upload to the internet where you suck on round fruit, and several of your game libraries. Bethesda, Twitch, Steam, Ubisoft Connect, Battle.net, Origin, GOG, and the Epic Games Store, and this is only counting the PC platforms. It is still a lot. It isn’t too easy to connect them all either, some hate each other if you ask anyone on Reddit or Twitter.

It was late last week that reports started spilling out that IO Interactive’s Hitman 3 on PC would require players to re-purchase Hitman 1 and Hitman 2. Some were quick to lay the blame at Epic’s feet. Some of those comments are ones I’d agree with, even if some of it came off as needless anger. The reason this is important is the claim that Hitman 3 will bundle the first two games into one neat single package that’s 60GB or thereabouts, as Mike wrote about last week. That sounds great until you realize Epic is doing a timed-exclusivity deal, and that means anyone that previously purchased the games on Steam (justifiably) got a bit twitchy. It was only August when IO stated, “we are pleased to confirm that PC players will be able to [carry over] their current progression and unlocks from HITMAN 2 on Steam into HITMAN 3 on Epic Games Store.”

Last week ahead of the news being spread, IO released a pre-launch guide that noted everything including, “We can guarantee that players will NOT need to re[-]purchase the games.” In a statement one day later to Eurogamer, IO is claimed to have said: “We’ve done everything possible to make this process smooth and player-friendly.” They went on on to state, “However, due to various circumstances out of our control, we want to acknowledge that the process is different to [what was] our initial plans for PC players.” Resignation to this, players would be forced to purchase the games on the Epic Store… The problem is, only Hitman (2016): Game of The Year edition is available on the storefront directly. Players would have to purchase Hitman 2 as DLC.

That ended the fairytale, and anger would ensue in the following 24-ish hours. In an update on Sunday, IO released a statement across social media repeating that players will not be required to re-purchase the previous games. With this, the statement goes on to explain, “until we roll that out in the coming weeks, the Hitman 1 GOTY Access Pass will be free to own for all PC players who pre-purchase or purchase Hitman 3 in the first 10 days after release.” Along with this, Epic would quote re-tweet this saying, “We never want players to feel forced to re[-]purchase content on the Epic Game Store that they bought on another PC store so they can access features in a new game.” They finished the statement by noting “We are working closely with IO Interactive[,] and you will be able to access past content from earlier HITMAN games.”

An important update to our @HITMAN 3 Pre-launch guide: https://t.co/Buj596UQnE pic.twitter.com/UVpNAQGdVm

— IO Interactive (@IOInteractive) January 17, 2021

Once again and without recourse, the pitchforks and torches are out in force for Epic’s head. Next, we’ll see people storming North Carolina under a Steam banner to siege the Epic offices with this level of stupidity and anger. Do I think it is right that the statements were made, rescinded, and then double-downed? No. Though I also don’t think we should have one platform that holds all the gold coins, nor do I enjoy this fragmented castle-like defense with each store only allowing select their friends into the castle, like it is the geopolitical nightmare of Euro-Asia for the last several hundred years. For a platform with many different storefronts available, this is just another example of push-back against anything taking on Steam’s dominance, something David wrote about last week.