Hitman Now Episodic

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-01-15-hitman-will-now-be-fully-episodic

I think this is really interesting. This really does look like the future of SE games - a way to reduce the financial pressures of spending years developing games by having revenue attained and redistributed quicker.

Maybe a leap, but could XV really be the last FF game available complete at the start? I mean, the improvements gained from the demo versions itself which they have implemented from player feedback and analysis have been for the better, and does prove that this could work really well for the company for an episodic series. Games that do really well they can continue with new content, those that don't they can simply wrap up and finish.

But could you stomach all FF games - not just the VII Remake - being episodic?

I think they're making a mistake with this. I want to buy a game like this and run through it in a week or two. If i bought this in march and ffxv came out in say September, the game would be dropped. Hitman was going to be my next game. It's not now. Between this and not giving tomb raider to ps4, and the 10 year wait for ffxv I'm getting tired of Square Enix. I wonder if its because of poor pre-orders so they're recouping the cost as they go.

My question is what happens if the first "episode" flops? Do the people who bought it just never get to see the finished game?

Kionae said:

My question is what happens if the first "episode" flops? Do the people who bought it just never get to see the finished game?

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Nope, that's the catch on the one side, and the double win on the other. If it succeeds, they can sell 3-4 games at $20-$30 each instead of one game at $60, each having their own gradual devaluation (but at that price range it won't be much), and another single all-for-one-price deal once they've finished the episodes. If it flops, they wouldn't have had to invest the cost of a full game, so their losses won't be as high. Same goes for FFVII

It's like DLC without the base game. It's probably pretty much impossible to sell on the used games market, too.

Not that I'm a huge fan of the Hitman series or anything but this seems like kind of a dick move for a game that already had pre-orders and was only three months from release. If episodic had been the intent all along and fans knew this that would be one thing, but to pull the rug out from under them like that is not very cool.

That's my only gripe with it too, Tenny. Otherwise, I'm not particularly incensed by the possibility of buying the first part of a game, playing it and wanting the next part, but it never coming because of reasons.

Neil Gaiman said it best when talking about "A Song of Ice and Fire": "George R.R. Martin is not your bitch." No contract is signed nor obligation otherwise established just because you buy the first part of something.

If you buy it and then want the next part, it's presumably because you enjoyed it, in which case you got your money's worth. Occupy the wait with something else you might enjoy, and hope you get more of what you liked this time -- but just as partaking of that next part isn't your sole concern in life, nor is getting it to you all that matters to who provided the first part.