IO Interactive officially announces the next Hitman elusive target, Academy Award-nominated actor Gary Busey, and reveals when and where players can take him out.

Back in April, eccentric actor Gary Busey "won" the right to be Hitman's next "elusive target" - special targets that players are tasked with killing within a time limit. Well, now we know exactly when Gary Busey will be added to Hitman, and as it turns out, fans of the game won't have to wait long to kill the Academy Award-nominated performer.

Gary Busey's elusive target mission, entitled "The Wildcard," will begin on Thursday, July 21st at 5AM Pacific time. It will only last for seven days, so anyone interested in taking out a virtual version of Gary Busey should do so while they have the chance. For the opportunity to kill Gary Busey, the Sapienza map, which comes with the second episode of Hitman, will be required.

Busey was selected to be Hitman's seventh elusive target over fellow actor Gary Cole in a Twitter campaign sponsored by advertising company Omelet. As part of the deal, Busey has lent not only his likeness to the game, but his voice as well, which should give fans an authentic Gary Busey-murdering experience.

If this stunt proves popular enough, it's not unreasonable to assume that other celebrities will also become elusive targets in Hitman in the future. As for who those celebrities would be selected is anyone's guess, but perhaps future possibilities will be teased during the Gary Busey elusive target mission.

In any case, unique content like this can only do favors for Hitman. Public interest in the game seems to have waned in recent months, with its episodic release structure partly to blame for what appears to be a general lack of enthusiasm from the gaming community. However, Gary Busey's appearance in the game could give it more attention, and in turn, may make people more apt to purchase the physical disc release when it releases at some point in January of 2017.

In our review of Hitman's first episode, we were mostly positive about the game, so hopefully IO Interactive is able to generate more interest in the title and will get a chance to move forward with a sequel. The choice to use an episodic format has been divisive, but there are many solid ideas at work - such as celebrity targets - that show the new take on Hitman has potential if gamers will give it a chance.

Hitman is available now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

Source: VG 24/7