It’ll be a good seven months until players can travel the world with Agent 47 next spring, developer IO Interactive has announced, as Hitman will release in March of next year as what the studio promises will be the biggest series entry to date.
First shown off to the public at E3 2015, the third-person stealth game was initially slated for December 8th, 2015, which IO can no longer meet. The developer assures fans that it’s a decision they didn’t make lightly, but one they believe will help to ensure a quality product:
We want to make absolutely sure you all get the best possible experience when you join, so we’ve made the difficult decision to move the initial release date to March 2016. These few extra months will mean we can add more to the launch content of the game, more than we had originally planned, and then follow with a tighter frequency of updates, which ultimately will create a better game for everyone. And in the end, that’s what we’re all looking for.
To that end, the studio says that it aims to release a “good chunk” of the game at launch with some remaining levels to be added at a later date as a part of their intended updates to Hitman. IO says it plans to share further details in the week ahead, including Hitman‘s full release schedule.
As a preview for what players can expect from Hitman when it launches, IO claims that next year’s entry will dwarf even the largest level of Hitman: Absolution. While the latter’s Streets of Hope featured a modest city block, the former will comprise an entire French palace and surrounding courtyard six times larger in the level Paris – The Showstopper. The palace will house 60 rooms and 25 unique areas in and around it, while the level will boast over 300 unique NPCs compared to The Streets of Hope’s 50, with 70 challenges and 100 possible “accidents” waiting to happen.
When it releases next March, Hitman will be available on Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC. Those who pre-order it on PS4 will be allowed access to the game’s Playstation-exclusive beta along with 6 post-launch contracts.