$5 for the play button.
100% agree on your grid. That’s the way it should be. Simple, clean, efficient.
I’m glad that as a longtime fan of the franchise, I was buying the full editions as they were coming out, because if I had to deal with this fustercluck of a sales strategy as a newcomer, I’d be flipping birds left and right. This thing would make the likes of Ubisoft and Paradox blush.
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Ubisoft would be impressed, not blushing.
Ubisoft are on a whole other level of corporate fuckery.
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As promised, a video on the subject, as well as IOI’s maddening behaviour.
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Haven’t watched it yet, but given the feelings of yourself, myself and everybody else already, I’d like to say a big thank you for making the video. Calling out these bad practices that unfortunately IOI has continually done at times in the last several years is the best way forward in the hopes of one day seeing some better practices.
Maybe I am being too optimistic, but it’s nice to hope for something better.
Edit: OK, I have thoroughly enjoyed watching this video and I suggest that everyone else does exactly the same. It is a well articulated presentation of the highlights of IOI’s shady practices to this point and just represents the many frustrations and thoughts that many players have. Like Dribbleondo pointed it out, it was so easy for them to make a user-friendly guide of buying this game…he did it in a few minutes on Google Sheets!
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I’d say so. @Combatglue’s relative silence on the matter, other than that one awful post, gives me the vibe IO’s stance on this is “we’re right, you’re wrong. deal with it.”.
I have zero expectations of seeing this god awful pack pulled from sale any time soon.
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Yeah, seeing their Instagram post promoting the pack also did not give me a lot of hope that they’ll change their mind on this. Unless this greedy practice ends up getting picked up by gaming media? It’s frustrating that long time players like you, me and everybody else have had to put up with this sort of behaviour for years and years.
Yes, I definitely appreciate the free updates like Freelancer/Dartmoor Garden Show/Ambrose and continued (as little as some of it may have been) support up to this year, but that goodwill does not nullify the damage that they are giving out here with these sorts of decisions.
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“As it should be.”
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Combatglue is surely not doing the decisions there so we can’t expect him really to announce any change of approach that early now. The matter probably goes through the marketing department first which likely is at home during weekends.
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While true, not being the one to make decisions doesn’t mean that participating in the conversation in some capacity isn’t possible.
Saying something or nothing sets the tone for what the conversation might be looking like internally.
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IOI response, via Combat, was the fabled “we are very sorry you feel this way”.
So I don’t expect a strategy change.
Maybe a communication and presentation one.
I know that I’m one of the most ambivalent on the forum on this whole affair.
I get what they want to do.
The only critics I have personally are the confusing mess of the store, and the awful nomenclature in general.
Above it, there is a strange impression by IOI for a time now.
The impression that they don’t really like the game.
They like the product, that’s certain, fundamentally, and actively.
But when it comes to the game, the design, the puzzle, the aesthetics, the lore. Less so, or if so, accidentality.
It feels almost inconvenient to them.
It also means continuously managing to snatch defeat from the jaw of victory.
Here on marketing.
But also in roadmaps.
A coin, central to the community discussion for two years, first somehow forgotten and then released as if it was a patched bug, drowned. The Pinot Noir, the suspicious RFID…
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Good video, also i like the sound of your voice 
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I am not sure why IOI decided this, but I am okay with that. If Hitman: WOA can be criticized for something, it is the way it is sold. I am not here to tell IOI how to sell their games.
But if I will be making a game, I will focus on 3 versions only.
- Starter pack - Free Content + ICA + Sapienza.
- Stardart pack - Free Content + ICA + Paris, Sapienza, Marakesh, Bangkok, Colorado, Hokkaido, Hawke Bay, Miami, Santa Fortuna, Mumbai, W. Creek, Isle of Sgail, New York, Haven, Dubai, Dartmoor, Berlin, Chongqing, Mendoza, Carpathian Mountains
- Bonus pack - Patient Zero, Bonus Missions from 1. Season, 3 Deluxe Esc, Sarajevo Six, 4 Special Assigments, 3 Sniper Missions, 7 Deadly SIns, 6 Deluxe Escalation, Ambrose Island, Freelancer
CET packs and items packs are sold separately.
I wonder why IOI decided to make 3 seasons with 007.
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Very well-put Urben.
With the WOA rebranding and re-bundling it really felt at the time like HITMAN (ALL CAPS)'s swan song. A – finally – definitive single-purchase way to get everything that had been released to date, this is the standard, this is the deluxe the game is complete.
But then Freelancer DLC was released. And then Elusive DLC was released. Then a new Part One bundle made a repeat of the Hitman 2 days. And then the PS4 Missions came out too.
And now this?? Buy one single episode from 9 years ago?? Yes, I get that Sapienza is the big-showcase well-reviewed mission, but that was 9 years ago. Surely Hitman WOA as a whole has received many more accolades, reccomendations, exposure, and promotion to justify people being interested in The Full Experience, rather than one single level. And wasn’t that what the Starter Pack was for in the first place???
I wholly agree with @Dribbleondo that the Starter Pack should instead be modified to be the lucrative “Try A Full Mission Out”, having Paris, the actual first full mission bundled in. It sets up the story hook, it introduces so many social stealth concepts, it really is a better fit to acclimate and get players used to Hitman’s structure.
And cmon, it’s been so many years since the Season 1 content. Surely there’s not much to be earned from people who somehow haven’t yet bought into WOA, let alone enticing them with one single mission…
It really feels like WOA is going backwards and in turn possibly IOI with how complicated they’re making purchases, focusing on impulse-buying-small rather than informing customers on higher-priced, more valuable purchases.
I thought you guys already took the feedback two years ago and learned your lesson with the full WOA Bundle.
And just think – wouldn’t it retain more consumers playing your game – if they had the looming “Oh No I bought this 40$ game and I have to play it to make my purchase worth it” thought in their heads, rather than the “well that was a good 7$ purchase of a Hitman Mission. Time to Play something else.”
Lord knows I’ve had that thought many times about my own purchases.
One more thing: Does anyone remember that IOI also tried this with Hitman 2: The Miami Pack? (With its own Upgrade Pass DLC)
No idea if that strategy worked, but… I really really thought, since Hitman 3 at least - we’ve gone past this episodic piece-meal release, and focused on easily-readable Bundles for enticing content/value…
Hell, just remember when IOI surprisingly started giving away Season 1 Missions for free, own forever, for a limited time while H2016 was still the latest mainline title…
In December 2017, IOI released Paris for free to own for nearly a month. Not even two years after the game’s initial launch.
Nowadays, you’d be lucky to even play Paris for free for a month… limited-time-only aww 
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We likely won’t see the free location rotations again, since they haven’t happened since 2023 (just the seasonal content and CelebrET Arcades experienced it in 2024 iirc) due to the launch of Part One in December 2023. Otherwise people wouldn’t be buying Part One, they would just use the FSP and slowly play them as they were released for free for a month at a time.
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For sure. To clarify, the intended message there was not “screw the newbs.” It was “Whatever confusion arises from this release, I trust other people are able to navigate tiny conflicts over what amounts to the price of a sandwich.”
Caring makes sense. The outrage still reads as recreational and uncalled for. Lobbying to make the game less profitable is just as likely to bring about the end of it as any clumsy marketing ploy.
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Not exactly, we can still voice our displeasure to help newer players. Not all of us are making a fuss about this because we’re all in the market to buy it – that’s obviously already happened.
We’re just trying to make it easier for others to get into this game with as few hoops as possible.
And there’s tons of evidence both pre-and-post WOA Bundle that the more and more options IOI adds to get into the game, and the less and less each version comes with everything necessary for a full experience, it makes players frustrated, confused, and unwilling to put up with keeping track of the game’s content vs price points… Just look at Tizerk’s comment above!
So, no, this isn’t some ploy to make the game less profitable – we’ve all enjoyed and supported HITMAN for years and years – We’re just trying to make it easier for us, and others, to recommend the game to people without needing so many checklists or diagrams to figure it out. And we’re on like the… 5th round of checklists for buying the latest Hitman WOA game… 
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As mentioned above i’m also part of the people who support more “simple” bundles…
- HITMAN Introduction Pack (actual Part One):
Training, First mission (Paris) and stuff unlocked temporary as demo to engage purchasing (like actual CelebrETs, Arcade packs or Standalone levels like Sapienza).
THAT for a cheap and attractive price to introduce players to the game.
- HITMAN Standard Edition:
HITMAN Season 1, 2 & 3, basically all the levels without DLCs.
- HITMAN Deluxe (or Gold) Edition:
ALL HITMAN levels, DLCs and extras (except the seasonal CelebrET packs).
Other idea: DLC Packs
-
HITMAN Season 1 Pack DLC (2016 missions)
-
HITMAN Season 2 Pack DLC (2018 missions)
-
HITMAN Season 3 Pack DLC (HITMAN 3 levels)
-
Could also bring aside of that a “HITMAN DLC Pack” offering the remaining DLCs to purchase the rest of content for those interested (like 7 Deadly Sins, Sarajevo Six, Trinity Pack, etc.).
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Last but not least, a “CelebrET” pack offering the purchase of all released content so far.
As you see, so much ideas that would bring less confusion and surely an engagement in purchasing stuff without feeling ripped/scammed
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Well this is a bit of a surprise; IO reposted my video on Bluesky and it’s currently on their Bluesky timeline.
I really hope they actually watched the video first instead of blindly reposting it because it was Hitman-related. Because otherwise, that’s hilarious.
If you did watch this and then reposted it PR People, then I respect the subtle hustle of going against your master.
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However that went down and why, no denying, that is boss. 
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