The first season of the episodic "Hitman "video game is nearing its end and according to Creative Director Christian Elverdam, the studio is happy with the sales numbers. While they can't release specific details due to owning company Square Enix being a publicly traded one, the success of the game may attract other developers to try the model. Thanks to the high number of sales, IO Interactive is looking to go beyond the first season and envisions that the game will have a very large amount of content in the end.
In an interview with IO Interactive studio head Hannes Seifert, the company looked into the episodic model after the success of Telltale Games with the "Walking Dead" franchise. With technological advancements of consoles, developers are now able to release games similar to that of computers which led them to take the risk with "HItman". The game offered a steep $60 price for the entire game despite only releasing an episode and this caused a backlash with fans as many believed IO released an incomplete product. Now nearing the end of the first season, a lot of players have bought the game.
Seifert also mentioned that the strategy was a risk and if they failed to deliver it could've hurt one of their strongest franchises. The decision to do an overhaul to the game was also influenced by the criticisms of "Hitman: Absolution" which many believe departed from the original "Hitman" games. On the opposite end, "Hitman: Blood Money" is considered their most successful installment so far. One of the things that really attracted players to their newest game is the Elusive Target feature which had players hunting for special characters that were only in the game for a limited time. The feature proved quite popular with the community, having forums and discussions dedicated to it.
The first Season is set to be released physically though no specific details have been made yet on it. Seifert comments that one of the best things about the episodic system is that the money for the game continuously flows in as opposed to a one time release.
