On the August IOI Insider, it was revealed that there were plans for Hitman in 2022.
My bet is paid DLC of a series of reworked maps like the Patient Zero campaign.
It is worth the investment for IOI to come out with more paid DLC content based on large possible customer base based on sales of Hitman III.
What are your thoughts?
Fair few games get a expansion after a year so I see it as that with 7DS as a small fill the gap content (as well as potentially gauge interest in continued player base).
Thinking be a small side-story pack with a few level remixes (between PZ and H1 Bonus levels in scope)
Though hoping in terms of number of expansions we get 2 expansion packs (contain 3-4 map remix’s each) though be interesting to see regardless of size of content if it will be using the episodic/road map model
With Map reworks I hope they include Hitman 1 and 2 locations so those with good potential for a make-over gets their chance. (for me namely: Colorado, Whittlton Creek-Though will be happy with a change of Santa Fortuna as think it is the series weakest map)
There is still the Steam release ahead of us. Question is what they will do, rerun all ETs we had this year, FCs, and thats it?
IOI have to make something like PZ campaign in 2022… For now development of H3 is little bit disappointment compared to the H1 and H2…
I think it’s in our best interest to set a level of expectations before we come to any big this is what’s gonna happen type of conclusions.
A Second year of support may not be what we think it means. If anything we could be getting fewer updates in exchange for one last final big paid for expansion.
I have a firm belief that in 2022 we will be seeing the following.
I’m assuming this will begin a month after the Steam release of the game with the Final new Elusive Target being released around the one year mark of the games release. I have a very strong hunch that they will repeat how Hitman 2016 did it where they will incorporate some type of time limited rewards such as the Solstice Suit (speculated to be a Season 2 ET Reward since a S2 Travel Briefcase is in the files)
Love them or hate them they are here to stay, these are a given and a dime a dozen. While I won’t be personally playing these unless a unlock is tied to them I feel they will continue releasing them.
Seasonal Events will return like the Easter Egg Hunt, we still have yet to seen the Snow Festival and I wouldn’t get excited about anything for Halloween or Christmas since everything is looking to be a rehash of previous content years.
I think this will be the piece of content we should expect for this game. 3 Escalations, 3 Suits, 3 Weapons and a mini self contained campaign. I think it would be priced around $20 bucks but it would be a send off to the series for awhile that I think a lot of people would be happy about since this is something a lot of people have been craving.
I primarily think that I don’t know.
As @Urben said we still have the steam release. It will arrive with (hopefully for IOI) a new batch of new core players. That would mean a stream of content for them, as for them it will not be the second year but the first year of content. At least I could see enough ETs to unlock all the suits for them. Maybe also some fresh content during the first three months (ala garden show) to hook them/signify to them that Hitman is a game to play in the long term. But that is uncertain, and subject to the metrics at release.
Now normally I would look into the precedent of Hitman 2016 and Hitman 2 for their second year. But for them the second year was also the last before the sequel release. If was more “maintenance” of the core base than anything else. And again the core base will expand after the steam release. You don’t “maintain” that, you “work” it. Then the live team was maybe shifted towards the sequel, to help finish it. At present I do not think we are on the last year of Hitman live service. Even if we do not know when project 007 is projected to release. I could see the live team still at work for a year. As it would not be needed as a ressource elsewhere.
Nonetheless I could still see some parallel with the previous second years. Maybe the seasonnal events will be made permanent, maybe the 7DS ETs will return. I don’t know but I think it is probable.
But if I allow myself to go into pure imagination.
I could see a “Hitman : the World of Assassination” release with all three game bundled together. And with it live content spanning the three games. Maybe a patient zero like campaign using maps from the whole trilogy to incentive buying it. After all the patient zero campaign was created for Hitman 2016 game of the year edition.
What I expect:
Steam release with VR support (the only thing that I’m really waiting for);
New campaign DLC like Patient Zero (or even a sequel who knows);
Usual reactivation of ALL elusive targets (last time they reactivated only the HITMAN 2 ones);
New Featured Contracts;
Sporadically new items and guns;
Seasonal Events become permanent as usual.
Then my wishes are, at least, to fix the major bugs on all legacy maps, but Travis confirmed that for now they are focused only on HITMAN 3 contents and fixes, so I don’t expect much for the next year.
Not entirely sure if we’ll get yet another DLC pack, but I’m certain we’ll be getting more Hitman 2 Elusives next year.
With the Seasons of Sin ending soon, and with the Free Location Rotation nearing it’s end with Hokkaido, I can see next year starting with a free Miami, then going through at the least the locations up to Isle of Sgail. So, that’ll be 5 months guaranteed of content updates.
In my personal opinion, anyone looking for anything next year beyond reactivation of more Elusive Targets and patching is probably going to be setting themselves up for disappointment.
The game being released on Steam (if it does) doesn’t mean that a bunch of new players will get a whole new batch of “year 1” content. Year 1 was 2021. The players that refused to buy the game on Steam are unlikely to be rewarded with a whole year of new content. They will be able (most likely) to just access the content from this year that isn’t time limited. They will have missed out on the Elusive Targets from this year and the Easter Egg Hunt but that’s about it. The 7 Deadly Sins DLC will still be available for purchase for them but I doubt that IOI will do anything extra just for the Steam players.
It’s possible that we’ll get PC VR support, new levels, new campaigns, etc. but I doubt that we can count on anything like that. They may re-release all of the past Elusive Targets in one big pack, but I doubt it. I think that statements by IOI have pretty well cemented no new levels. A new Patient Zero-like mini campaign is possible but I doubt that it will happen.
Don’t forget, IOI already provided us with the game that they “owed” us. Anything extra is icing, not cake.
I remember from Hakan Abrak interviews around the time of H3 release, he said on multiple occasions that more content was in the pipeline for WOA, but that 47 might get a rest. Lucas Grey DLC? (I wish)
I think 7DS is more of a holdover thing for them to quickly capitalize on all the new players with H3, while working on something more substantial for next year.
I also see no reason for them not to release all the ET’s to be playable forever when they’re done supporting the game. They’re already in the game, so it’s just too easy to go get all that fan love. But they might keep them for a while to incentivize people to not hold off on buying the game and to honor the original concept of the mode.
I think Lucas Grey DLC would be a bad idea after all those suit unlocks and stuff packs of suits…
To be honest, I never understood the whole limited release of targets to get people to buy as I can imagine it can put people off just as much knowing they missed the main blood of the live support (ET) and missed chunks of the game (I.E after Re-Runs) as a result and lessen idea of purchasing, especially as those who buy the game at launch for the most part would of done it ignoring the ETs and timed seasonal content and just for the game itself.
Plus add-in say people who bought H1 and 2 and are waiting for a sale or Steam release know from ETs will have a re-run so even then takes the wind out of a reason to buy on fearing of missing out.
Plus new players see it on sale and see all released content and updates can be a good incentive to purchase at that time.
I do hope the ETs are all re-released but I kinda find it strange to keep it as timed content.
I really hope we get a proper second year of new content. I don’t think escalations are nearly as good as Bonus missions, but IO has really started to hit their stride with making really solid escalations and this will be the last time we get Hitman for a long time, probably at least 5 years.
My best bet would be a (or multiple) bonus mission ala Icon/Landslide/HBoS. Steam version would be out and you need something good to get yourself back on the map again. Continuing with DLCs like 7DS will kill H3’s popularity for good, cuz respectfully, they suck ass.
On the IOI website a few of the job positions available are associated with Hitman, although the vast majority are for Project 007 and an unannounced project (such as the Diablo like RPG?).
If they are still hiring new personnel to work on Hitman, it seems that there is more on the horizon outside of just filler.
I’d love actual content like New York and Haven Island.
NY is one of my favorites in the WoT.
I mean its not really a surprise.
The budget was slashed considerably between H1 and H2 because H1 didn’t even become profitable until last year because of the colossal failure of the episodic release model. Then it was slashed even further going from H2 to H3 because of self-publishing and not having the extra money from WB that got H2 over the line.
tbh I wouldn’t be surprised to find out if the post-launch content budget was slightly increased so that they could produce 7DS and that the money from the 7DS sales is what is funding the development of whatever is in the works for 2022 so that they don’t cut too heavily into any of the profit from the base game sales. I’ve never bought into the fact that 7DS was the DLC that they were talking about not long after launch as it was specifically said that they were looking at using locations from across the trilogy for what they had planned.
Although IO have had record sales, I can see a lot of new (and old) players playing Hitman 3 when it is released on Steam.
I think a new DLC / reworked maps would be good to make the game feel fresh for the Steam players. I think the size of the DLC will be proportionate to the sales though.
Difficult to say what could be released in 2022?
Elusive Targets
The current pattern in the release of ET from H1 with the combination of a limited-time free access to H1 map. Let’s see if this pattern is respected in the following seasons.
End of 2021: Season Gluttony (Bangkok + ET Bangkok); Season Envy (Colorado + ET Colorado); Season Wrath (Hokkaido + ET Hokkaido).
Starting in 2022 would be the sequel of that pattern with the H2 maps. Probably the same thing with free access to the map and ET specific to that map.
I didn’t mention the Politician as it was already played (with no suit related to it). And what about Mumbai? Difficult to say… Maybe a surprise 
and a new ET? (Basil Carnaby 
).
Probably amidst the H2 ET, we might get a reactivation of H3 ET (for the new players with the Steam release).
I’m still surprised that there is no ET on Dubai map. Probably for the season final?
Seasoned Contents
We’d get the permament release of some seasoned contents. Easter Egg Hunt? Or other new contents? A new escalation within Halloween context? Or a Christmas escalation (with new unlocks like the explosive snowball?)?
The Mills Reverie and the HH/HSF are likely to be released in 2021 for Halloween and Christmas.
Other contents
Very unlikely:
More likely:
Joker:
Spoiler:
Re-release of Electrocution phone 
I hope we get more paid DLC packs next year, imagine it with the quality of the Garden Show Escalation, hope we get permanent ET’s at some point too
Did they?
Well it literally surprises me. As H2 had stopped upgrading since its one year anniversary, I could imagine what might happen on Jan.20, 2022:
We are really really excited that HITMAN3 is now available on steam! Congratulations! And, for the one year anniversary for HITMAN3, we are happy to announce our last main content and roadmap, as we are goona focus on our new project. See you, agents. Don’t be worried. We shall meet again, as James Bond! Enjoy! 
Wish that it’s not what goona happen.