…It’s on Consoles too I guess. Wonderful. 
6 Likes
And apparently not setup correctly to stop you accidentally repurchasing it.
Add to Cart button shouldn’t be there.
6 Likes
10 Likes
To reply to your meme, IOI hired Gerald Ratner as their Chief Commercial Officer.
Well I’d Ratner they hire someone else than Gerald if that’s the issue.
Why can’t IO seem to figure out how to sell this game?
First they try Hitman Trilogy, which was fine but too expensive to be good value and didn’t solve the underlying issue of Access Passes being convoluted.
Then they bundle it all into WoA, which was great (base games for $70 USD, plus DLC content for $100)
Then they add the $5 Freelancer cosmetic packs, the $5 Trinity pack, the $5 Sarajevo Six pack, the $5 Celebrity ET Arcade packs, and the Celebrity ET bundle (why couldn’t all of this just go into the Deluxe Edition)
Then they make a Part One and confuse consumers when just the Part One is on sale for $3 (partly the consumers’ fault for not reading “Part One” but also largely IO’s fault for making such a bloated purchase structure)
Now they come out with a single level for $10 USD, when it costs $30 for all six H1 levels?
Even worse, they put used to Part One on sale for $3. Now Sapienza alone is $6 on sale. Nonsensical.
Wasn’t this individual level purchase structure a key reason for Hitman 2016’s sales failure? A big reason why Square Enix dropped IO in the first place? Weren’t we supposed to get away from the “Silver/Gold Edition Base to Silver Base to Gold Silver to Gold Upgrade Pack” nonsense from H2? The Seven Deadly Sins + Deluxe + H2 Access Pass + H1 Access Pass nonsense from H3?
Why can’t they just go back to Base for $70, Deluxe for $100, nothing else to purchase? The Steam store page looks like a damn Ubisoft game.
15 Likes
Don’t forget Part One contains the six levels from 2016 and GOTY content. The Sapienza Episode only includes World of Tomorrow, Landslide, and The Icon – no Patient Zero campaign.
12 Likes
Yeah… but that’s honestly just the PS Store’s fault. Happens with lots of games that re-bundle or re-package themselves, usually due to how they sort the digital licenses around? I think?
Some game bundles retroactively list themselves as “Owned or Purchased” if you own the main game and all DLC, but others… don’t, like Hitman for some reason.
I own all the DLC except for the Drop, Disruptor, and Splitter DLC’s, yet… I don’t “own” the WOA Deluxe Edition nor the Deluxe Add-On Pack…
I feel like it might have something to do with how some pre-order bonus DLC’s might be flagged vs when they’re public-facing on the store. Though the Trinity DLC does say I’ve owned it since they released it… 
I like to be an informed buyer, so thankfully I pay attention to specifically what I’m buying, what I’m getting, and whether it’s worth it or not.
5 Likes
Unfortunately, the addition of “Episode: Sapienza” will only create new confusion for buyers.
As far as I know, many of the “PartOne” purchasers felt that it was a scam, but this seems to be worse than that.
The VR-ready icons, especially on Steam, add to the confusion.
This sales method also makes it difficult to understand the storyline told in the campaign, and I don’t think it’s a good idea to experience the campaign without Paris.
Unless Paris will be included in the ”free starter pack” in the future, but there are probably no plans to do that.
I also think the announcement of how to upgrade is inadequate.
If I buy “Episode: Sapienza”, what do I have to buy next to upgrade to “HITMAN World of Assassination” (unbranded)?
What is the price of the upgrade?
Also, is there an option to upgrade from “Episode: Sapienza” to “PartOne”?
I am missing this kind of information.
If you are going to have this kind of complicated sales process, I would also like to see an explanation of which package buyers of “Episode: Sapienza” and “PartOne” should buy next, and what kind of upgrades they will receive as a result of that.
For example, unfortunately, Steam makes the link to the upgrade packs difficult to follow.
In this state, buyers will not be able to upgrade.
As a result, instead of buying the “Upgrade Pack”, you buy “World of Assassination”, which results in a double purchase of the Part 1 stage, and you think it’s a scam.
I think there should also be a solid follow-up on the next step for those who have purchased “Episode: Sapienza” and “PartOne”.
FIXED
Postscript.
At this time the description page for this package is apparently broken in the Epicgames store and the Microsoft store.
https://store.epicgames.com/ja/p/hitman-3–woa-episode-sapienza (no description or images)
https://www.xbox.com/ja-jp/games/store/hitman-3-sapienza/9mxx2q4km5hv(Cannot purchase)
→
https://www.xbox.com/ja-jp/games/store/hitman-world-of-assassination-episode-sapienza/9n2x3lfm8qxf
5 Likes
And then what’s pathetic additionally to all of this is that you buy Sapienza thinking you’re going to get everything included for that location, but no, you have the Author Sapienza mission locked out as that standalone version doesn’t get the Patient Zero campaign access.
I guess I was psychic when I last mentioned a throwback to the Season of Greed on here about a week ago…
7 Likes
I guess when the game you’ve been working on for 4 years still isn’t out, you start doing confusing moves like this.
3 Likes
12 Likes
In one hand:
- Hitman having a low cost entry point is understandable.
Part One was a success, and is highlighted as such in their annual report.
Doing another one with Sapienza, the poster map of WoA, makes sense.
On the other hand:
-
On steam the new package is on top of the list. Causing any sale of it to appear as if it was a sale of the whole game on the storefront and search.
A cheap way to attract new players.
Same as Part One did. To the November all time high success. -
IOI, since its expansion, feels drowned in non-creative management.
The kind that wants to prove its existence by making new changes every six month.
I hope the only reason we see non-creative action is because it’s Hitman and creatives are busy with Project 007 and Fantasy.
And in the meantime that they are aware enough to not make let it shape their institutional behaviour and preferences.
If not, there are precedents, like Ubisoft. It ends badly for the company.
Also yeah, IOI will never not be confusing on sell tactic.
14 Likes
I feel this so much. Back in summer 2024 - a low-point in relations between IOI and its fans (certainly on this forum, at least) - I said this:
And I think it’s ringing truer than ever right now. I’m an accountant IRL and absolutely an uncreative ‘suit’, and it feels like IOI are being run by a bunch of suits at the moment. I don’t like it one bit.
12 Likes
Don’t they know they don’t have to do a Suit Only run?
15 Likes
Not the only one to notice then.
This, by the way, is also why their website is set up like a tech startup splash page and not a site where you go to find out about the game and patchnotes.
13 Likes
IOI really don’t help themselves sometimes…
9 Likes
Let me start by saying I agree with much of what’s been said above. This decision seems sure to cause confusion & I believe is anti-consumer in nature.
One possible explanation - if we’re seeking to understand - would be that this is a marketing strategy rather than a viable product.
Consider, for instance, the example of budget airlines. These companies make a song and dance of telling customers what you don’t get included in your ticket price (no baggage allowance, no free drinks etc.). This might seem counterintuitive, but they do this for an important reason…
If a budget airline goes around claiming they provide the same service as other airlines, for a greatly reduced price, people distrust them. They will assume the pilots are substandard, safety measures aren’t respected, the planes are not cleaned properly etc.
It’s a reverse psychology trick where you gain the customers’ trust by telling them what’s not included in the price, leading them to believe in the good value of the product.
I feel a similar strategy may have been deployed here. Or, at least, it’s being tested. The intention is not for loads of people to buy the new Sapienza pack, but to see the expensive Sapienza pack and then conclude that the full game must be great value!
I’m not saying it’s okay. I think it’s a shitty business practice. But I’m guessing that’s what’s going on here.
4 Likes
Nah, this has been pretty long-standing behaviour for a while now, pre-Travis and Clemens leaving. It’s just more visible due to the lack of communication that we needed for much of 2024.
9 Likes
Gotcha. I wasn’t totally aware since I left the forum for a while.
1 Like