You’ve probably heard of it before. An animated game hits the market. It requires a certain degree of internet connection. Everyone comes to play on the first day, only to reach a series of frustrating blocks. Online connectivity is unstable, though functional. There are problems with data saving and character progression. Some players are looking for exclusive versions (e.g. a “final” edition) and have trouble accessing the material they have paid for. The developer launches a series of apology tweets, states that he acknowledges the situation and “is studying it” and publishes a FAQ that addresses the most common problems with a series of fine answers, at best, and strikes, in the worst case.
In other words, the launch of the game is a disaster.
The disaster of the day is not one Destiny oa Devil oa Division. Is it like that Hitman 3, the latest in the recent IO Interactive series of interactive posts on Instagram, posted this week for a host of platforms.
Oh no. What happened this time?
Hitman 3The problems allegedly started before the launch. IO’s Hitman games have always had an online element, which relies on a persistent internet connection to keep track of your progress. KotakuRiley MacLeod told me this when I was reviewing the game, connectivity would fade. As far as he knew, he had no major influence on his way of playing. (When reviewing the game for PC Mag, Mike Williams found similar connectivity.) It can be played technically Hitman 3 offline, but some unlocks will be lost.
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That doesn’t sound so bad.
In a vacuum, no, that wouldn’t be a problem. It is common for online games to have problems with the server before launch. Hitman 3The servers were running (on paper) during the review period, but they still ran into some issues. And keep in mind that these problems existed even though only a small group of reviewers, rather than the wider audience that played them, had access to them.
Server problems persisted when the game was officially released on January 20th. Extra points if you see him coming.
That’s not all. Hitman 3 technically allows players to continue their progress, both in terms of character progress and unlocked levels, from previous games in the “World of Assassination” trilogy, Hitman i Hitman 2. This process has also not developed as well as announced.
Hitman games are defined both by their location and by anything else. Previous games sent Agent 47 to fashion destinations such as Marrakech, Morocco; Hokkaido, Japan; Miami, Florida; and Sapienza, Italy, which is not a real place, but hey, it can also be a copy of Positano, Sorrento, Praiano or any other holiday spot on the idyllic Amalfi Coast. If he was an owner Hitman 2, you can import any unlocked level to Hitman 3 downloading expansion steps called access packages at no additional cost. (Those who owned Hitman or Hitman 2 on the record they have had to go through even more complicated download process. It’s a whole topic.)
Trying to find these access packages in the showcase owner of each console, however, could show them at the price. Instead, players had to navigate to Hitman 3on the Store tab from the game’s main menu. But even that has not guaranteed success. Some Xbox gamers have not been able to fully access the first game access package, even if they follow the guidelines until the exit. IO he says there is an “resolution” in progress.
PC gamers, meanwhile, faced off some mixed messages on whether PC players should buy again Hitman 2 a Epic Games Store, on Hitman 3 it is a timed exclusive. Currently Hitman 2 it’s not available in the Epic Games Store, but you can buy it Hitman 2 Gold Edition access package—This includes the base game and its accessories— with an 80% discount until February 3. In other words, if you are the owner Hitman 2 on Steam and you want to play the levels of this game in Hitman 3you will have to pay back. IO he says there is a solution in process. It is not clear why Hitman 2 The Gold Edition access package is not fully marked. (Kotaku has contacted IO representatives to comment).
And then there is the actual data transfer. If you played Hitman 2, you can bring your player profile (your XP rank, your Master levels, your unlocked suits, etc.) Hitman 3. IO Interactive even set up a dedicated site that allows players to solve the process smoothly. The site almost immediately shrank under stress, and some players found error messages. At 2:57 pm ET, IO Interactive acknowledged the problem, in writing, to tweet, that anyone who sees an error notification has “queued” [their] final and processed. You can’t do more. “
“We have taken steps to stabilize the progress of the transfer,” IO wrote in Frequently asked questions Thursday morning. “We are cautiously optimistic that we will avoid more problems and we are on deck to keep things going[s] soft as we get to rush hour ”.
And then there’s the problem of intergenerational improvements. It’s no secret that upgrading a game from your PlayStation 4 version to your PlayStation 5 version is it is already a confusing process. Hitman 3 throws an additional key at it. In some cases, PlayStation players do reported problems with using a PS4 game disc to upgrade to the PS5 version, despite promises prior to the IO release affirming that next-generation upgrades would be free. Today’s FAQ tells gamers to first download the PS4 version to their PS5, then go to the PlayStation Store (console only) and download Hitman 3 Disk update editing.
On top of all that, some small chunks of seemingly downloadable content don’t even move. For IO, the Requiem Package—What, curiously, featured a white rubber duck— is currently “AWOL”.
Wow, okay, I’ll get it back. That’s a lot. Why does this always happen?
That always passes, right?
Talking to Kotaku in 2019, developers rang a list of common problems that could be suffered by an online game, such as crashes, system crashes, code issues, unexpected influx of players, or even errors on a single player’s machine. Developer Rami Ismail of Vlambeer compared these releases to Mini Metro, the fantastic minimalist management simulation on the construction of accessible traffic in the main metropolitan areas.
It is also important to remember that issues like this are not universal. (See: All people who respond to articles about Ciberpunk 2077 with some gossip about how the game runs on its billion-dollar platform, and what the game of the year is, and why, anyway, you have so much bad word of mouth, what’s the problem?) Hitman 3 players, it’s all peaches and sauce. For others, the whole ordeal has been an exercise in frustration.
And this is a tale as old as time. Mass Effect: Andromeda released as a disaster, before BioWare converted the ship and transformed the game into, if not the best Massive effects, a solid serial input. Similar things could be said Halo: The Master Chief Collection–which is a strange explosion these days“Oh.” devil III. And everyone knows it the No Man’s Sky ark of redemption for now. Is Hitman 3 the next chapter in a long saga of now fantastic games that exploded at launch? Only time will tell if IO can get this job.