Hitman 3 and IO Interactive have been the subject of a lot of criticism in the past week. Hitman 3 finally released on Steam exactly 1 year after it launched on the Epic Games Store, while still costing a full $60.
Some gamers were hoping that Hitman 3 would be discounted in the Steam Lunar New Year Sale after being released at full price on the platform a year late. This was not the case for Steam, however, the game was offered for half off at $30 in the Epic Games Store Lunar New Year Sale. Strangely enough, that sale was only for 1 hour before the discount was removed from the store altogether. IO Interactive is yet to comment on the situation, although it seems as though the decision not to discount the game on Steam was not up to the company.
Steam's pricing policy stipulates that a game may only be discounted 30 days after its initial release or 30 days after the end of its launch discount. The reasoning behind the short stint of the discount on the Epic Games Store is that Steam allegedly has an unwritten rule regarding companies offering games at lower prices on other stores if a game is available on Steam. If this happens to be the case, then IO Interactive's hands were tied in the situation as it seems there was little it could do without infringing upon Steam's policies.
Hitman 3 is also currently being review bombed on Steam. Gamers seem to be upset about the game's exclusivity deal with Epic Games as well as the price that the title launched at on Steam. The deluxe edition of Hitman 3 is currently being offered for $90 on Steam, which many gamers felt was a bit steep considering that the game has already been out for a year and was discounted on the Epic Games Store multiple times last year. Many of the reviewers state that while they enjoy the game, they thumbed it down for the above reasons.
IO Interactive decided to combat this by offering Steam users free upgrades on the version of Hitman 3 that they decided to purchase. This meant that players who bought the standard edition were upgraded to the deluxe edition at no extra cost. Players who purchased the deluxe edition or the Hitman Trilogy were provided with the Seven Deadly Sins collection DLC for no extra cost as well.
In other news, Xbox gamers have recently been having issues with launching Hitman 3. The issues all seemed to begin with the Year 2 update, as the game seemed to regularly crash on startup when Xbox players booted it up. Luckily, IO Interactive has been made aware of the issue and are working on a fix.
Hitman 3 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: PCgamer