True, even in nature various parasitic life forms live in perfect harmony with the host and even fulfill a function.
Fair points. I think what we can all agree on is that Hakan only needs 1 helicopter, not 7 with a different coloured one for each day of the week. 
3 Likes
I hope you donât expect him to repair his only helicopter when it is broken. How is he supposed to fly to work without some backup? 
7 Likes
Can someone please explain to me the origin of that meme to me? Iâve been confused by it for almost a year. Thank you. 
2 Likes
It came from the EGS meltdown with people throwing around âIO greedy!â. The meme is mostly used to ridicule that statement or to show one is still able to laugh about questionable decisions. 
5 Likes
It isnât exploitation â that is the point.
If you donât want to pay the price for something, then you donât have to buy it.
IOI isnât forcing you to do anything.
IOI donât owe you anything.
You donât even know what is in the paid DLC that you are describing as exploitation.
Supply and demand.
There is a demand for Hitman content after the release of Hitman III.
IOI are supplying content for a premium price.
That is their choice.
If it is a crap product and no one buys the paid DLC, then IOI loses money, and no one will trust this developer in release of future products.
It is your choice whether it is worth buying the paid DLC.
You are making it as though this company owes you something for free.
If you donât think that the developer is trustworthy, then spend your money elsewhere.
IOI hasnât done anything to deserve being crapped on for running a business.
The problem is that those who play video games, donât often consider what is behind the curtain.
It is millions of dollars over many, many years to develop a quality video game, millions and millions of lines of code, and a team of specialists covering all aspects of video game development with absolutely no payback until the game is published.
While it is OK to have high expectations and demand excellence for what you purchase, save your complaining that it is a ripoff and exploitation, until IOI actually release the product which you are complaining about.
3 Likes
Do we even know the reason squeenix parted ways? And it looks like they are technically still together through trademarks and this Hitman Sniper 3.0. Financially, IO earned their dev costs back in the first week. So for a little around 58 days, itâs been profit from there - how much who knows. The belief that Hitman 3 was sold at a loss is simply not true. CEO said it himself in an interview. Whatever the costs it took to design, develop and market, they got it all back in the first week.
But I paid for Hitman, itâs a full AAA paid game, not an free-to-play. Yes, thatâs the business strategy for gaining more audience for F2P, this on the other hand is the margin strategy of inflating near valueless content that was accessible to all for 5 years for free, by a significant amount and paywalling people out of being a fan or value trickery.
Hitman 3 got a profit and is now stretching for more quick cash grab by locking out free content into paid. Itâs even more obvious when all they did was rename their roadmap - because itâs the same stuff lol. Free to MTX.
Thatâs quite controversial and subjective. âExcellentâ is not quite the word I would use honestly because I weighed up the value. It opens up avenues to push it further, this is testing waters hence why itâs the stuff theyâve already made for future roadmaps. At first itâs a few Escalations that the majority arenât too bothered about then itâll be something else next.
IO have always tried to make Hitman into a foundation game since 2016 - a shell with MTX content packs. Started with the episodic missions, the overall game design. Look at the trilogy, they are mainly map and mission packs, and we know this because they all work together, as designed. The Netflix of Assassination is nothing but a platform in hopes to sell each item separately at inflated prices, which once again add it to the list of games doing so. And this is just the beginning.
Itâs just the new way to add âsubject to changeâ. Roadmap were always subject to change but are looked at as âpromisesâ and despite their right to change it, will greatly receive backlash if stuff gets once planned out gets cut or moved. See H2016. This doesnât tell you what you get at all, they add or remove as much as they need to meet margins. So despite paying ÂŁ30, because this scheme is a group effort, depending on how many people pay, your content could be significantly less than planning and youâll never know.
And nobody is disagreeing with IO making a profit. Price inflation of content is the problem. At per dollar, this content is marked up 30000% than it originally was priced at. It is nothing new and thatâs why it is bad - IO are jumping on the cash grab train, taking advantage of peopleâs support, consideration, or their understanding of value. The current content was ÂŁ0.00 now ÂŁ30.
CoD - 3 skins = AAA game
GTA - 3 cars / 1 modded car = AAA game
Ghost Recon - 7 cosmetics = AAA game
Hitman - 11 escalations = AAA game
Price inflation. Cut up, paywalled at inflated prices.
Iâll leave you with this question.
So would you rather 11 Escalations or a whole new Hitman game?
4 Likes
What makes the 7 Sins content specifically âfree contentâ prior to the announcement?
6 Likes
The specific content, the renaming of the roadmap. Theyâre escalations in existing environments, have been free for the past 5 years.
The content is now priced at the same efforts as making a couple of new environments or a mini campaign. Unless these escalations are on that level, itâs being inflated.
5 Likes
Patient Zero escalations were not free despite being in existing location versions (Showstopper, AHBOS, Situs Inversus).
All escalations that were formerly free and were ported to next games are also free today (if you own the Legacy Pack or Access Pass of itâs location).
4 Likes
You donât have to spend your money on paid DLC if you donât want to and IOI donât owe you anything.
If you are trying to argue that IOI is raking in the big bucks as a game developer, then they wouldnât have been sold by Square Enix.
And if they are now making money off of the quality of their latest Hitman IIII product, well then they deserve it.
If a company makes profits, it doesnât mean that they have to give away their future efforts for free and that they owe you something.
You can make the choice to buy or not to buy as a consumer.
A company that charges too much for bad products then lose the consumers which provide them their profits.
So if you are arguing that IOI are in the business to scam you, I think that your are mistaken.
1 Like
I am assuming that if a company wants to stay in business then they need to please the consumer that buys their product. The video game consumer is a fickle consumer with high expectations.
I am assuming that IOI want to stay in business so they will provide value for money, or they lose their business.
Going on and on about how you feel exploited for what you choose to purchase is really not the issue of the company which you buy a product from.
You decide to buy the product. They donât force you.
1 Like
Profit of IO and profits of Square Enix are different things You are probably not familiar with the policy of the company? Recently, the policy of Square Enix is aimed at maximum profit. And now we are talking about microtransactions. Hitman is not a mobile F2P game with an in-game store. I hope you donât need to be reminded why they stopped development of the Deus Ex?
2 Likes
There are no guarantees in life. No one owes you anything.
If you want to buy a product, go ahead, it is your money.
If you donât want to buy a product, donât. Save your money.
IOI might be out to exploit their fan base with overcharged crap because they donât want to stay in business. I just donât think that is true, but it isnât a guarantee.
1 Like
IOI failed in meeting sales expectations for Hitman Absolution and almost went bankrupt over poor sales of Hitman2016. IOI almost went bust, and they appear to have recovered after they became independent.
1 Like
Patient Zero was a mini campaign too apart of that price, not just small escalations (providing these are the same as current escalations).
A mini campaign and escalations and now for the same price - just the escalations part.
This is the main point I receive. The scheme is a group effort.
1000 people pay $1
OR
1 person pays $1000
The product could be the worse product in the world. If enough people buy it to profit, itâs still a success.
Itâs in test phase. If it profits, it opens avenues of further content to be paywalled at inflated prices. Whatâs next? ETs? Or additional masteries? Lootboxes? Battle Passes? Difficulties? FYI Iâm not telling you what to do with your money. Iâm simply explaining the business strategy and the figures. If you find value in a 30x markup, thatâs totally your decision.
I donât understand this point. Of course they deserve it. Although I think because the game is environmental packs, itâs been easier to get profits as the time as gone on versus making the whole game groundwork and everything else. Why are you talking about the other product anyways? This is about the new transaction.
And yet nobody has said that. The efforts they are pricing themselves at were the equivalent of designing 2 full maps or a new campaign. Those efforts are now escalations which they originally priced for free. Thereâs a clear imbalance of value of efforts.
Agreed.
And this is where this scheme comes into play. Itâs been evident that thereâs yet to be âtoo muchâ because the profit come flowing in. The higher the price, the less people buy in but if thereâs enough people to pay for those losses, itâs a win. And clearly in these games thereâs enough people who pay in at 30x the price on Hitman, or 120x on Cod or GTA. With this pack, one purchase equates for 29 others. Letâs say HItmanâs player base it 1000 people, if 33 people pay, it payâs for all. But wait this was originally free so each sale is 30x profit alone.
Why is that? Iâve given figures to prove the amount of pricing per efforts. How the content is 30x more expensive. How at these prices 11 escalations equate to a full Hitman game.
So I assume you would rather 11 escalations instead of new Hitman game?
2 Likes
This is the main point. The fact that the company did not meet financial expectations does not mean that it is, in principle, unprofitable. It is unprofitable for Square Enix, yes. Square Enix bought a lot of IP and they all fell short of expectations (except for Tomb Raider). A huge number of franchises are in the graveyard.
I have highlighted the main thing.
RIP and for what? Avengers! 
3 Likes
So if there was a pack consisting 10+ Escalations for that price, it still would not hold up against P0 because it is âjust the escalations partâ? Does no number of escalations even that up?
Also is it completely irrelevant to you that the levels are altered now, other than the P0 escalations?
Donât get me wrong, I also donât see this worth the money yet. But this is less comparable to P0 or free escalations and more to the Deluxe Pack which currently costs 35⏠for my location. So it is a price balance that is not very new to you or me.
4 Likes
Not for that price. In terms of the product, @Swangtheugly made the perfect point on the type of content that theyâre selling. Which doesnât hold much longevity for the most part - which is quite the opposite to what a Hitman game is. Thatâs not to say people may really enjoy escalations too. But personal opinions aside, if we compare the figures and pricing to content:
At this pricing, just 11 escalations is the equivalent of a brand new Hitman game.
Iâm sure we all can agree that making 11 escalations is significantly easier than to make a new game. The difference is stark in terms of efforts.
Can you define âalteredâ. Are they The Icon style altered? Even so, I still think itâs not good as I could be getting 2 brand new environments for the same price.
The whole scheme and method of selling, the type of content is really banking on getting enough people to pay out of good will. Itâs very clear that the value is not there and many people who are saying theyâre purchasing have done so not for that either but out of support and love. To which is why I dislike this DLC as itâs playing on peoples heart strings and abusing their love of the IP for a quick buck.
5 Likes