Hitman 3 officially came out a year ago on January 20, 2021, but the PC version was only released on the Epic Games Store. As a result of this deal, Hitman 3 launched on Steam a year later on January 20, 2022, marking the end of the exclusivity period.
Epic Games has been widely criticized for buying exclusive rights to keep games away from Steam. It invested around $359 million in similar deals and free games from 2018 to 2019, with Borderlands 3’s Epic Games Store exclusivity costing $115 million. Fans have expressed their anger at Epic’s practices in various ways, and it seems like user reviews for Hitman 3 on Steam are the latest target.
Hitman 3 is being review bombed on Steam, and it currently holds a rating of “Mixed” with 280 reviews. By contrast, both Hitman and Hitman 2 have enjoyed a favorable rating of “Very Positive” from thousands of reviews. Based on the comments, some fans are complaining about the price in addition to the year-long wait, as Hitman 3 was released as a full-priced game on Steam. IO Interactive charging $90 for Hitman 3 Deluxe Edition and $100 for the standard edition of Hitman Trilogy also angered some users.
Most of the negative reviews for Hitman 3 follow a similar pattern. Fans are praising the game but criticizing the business practices followed by IO Interactive. A lot of complaints have also been directed towards the poor implementation of VR. Metro Exodus launched on Steam at a discounted rate after the end of its Epic Games Store exclusivity period, and fans perhaps expected IO Interactive to take a similar approach.
Some fans have waited for a full year to play Hitman 3 on Steam. They are undoubtedly disappointed at being asked to pay full price, especially when Hitman 3 was available at a discounted rate during various sales on the Epic Games Store throughout 2021.
Fans that do not want to pay full price for the Steam version should note that all 3 Hitman games are available on Xbox Game Pass for console and PC. Xbox Game Pass has already had an excellent start to 2022, and the service is set to receive many games published by Activision Blizzard after Microsoft’s acquisition is completed. However, it is still disappointing for players who use Steam as their main launcher on PC, and hopefully IO Interactive will address these concerns as soon as possible.
Hitman 3 is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.