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[Visualante2]

Despite the mistakes, IO is one of Europe's finest developers. Real shame after they seemingly recovered from Absolution. I was not happy about the always online DRM in Hitman but I was going to purchase it when I have the time to play it.

 

[SonicVolcano]

 

[10k]

Record profits at Square Enix. Hitman is successful both critically and commercially. This leads to:

Square looking to sell I/O
Laying off staff

Good job, Square.

 

[Ray Down]

Record profits at Square Enix. Hitman is successful both critically and commercially. This leads to:

Square looking to sell I/O
Laying off staff

Good job, Square.

It wasn't .

 

[Fantastapotamus]

Record profits at Square Enix. Hitman is successful both critically and commercially. This leads to:

Square looking to sell I/O
Laying off staff

Good job, Square.

Gotta finance Nomura fucking around for the next 15 years somehow

 

[ArkhamFantasy]

Record profits at Square Enix. Hitman is successful both critically and commercially. This leads to:

Square looking to sell I/O
Laying off staff

Good job, Square.

The profits are coming from the japanese teams, not from hitman.

 

[rhandino]

Record profits at Square Enix. Hitman is successful both critically and commercially. This leads to:

Square looking to sell I/O
Laying off staff

Good job, Square.

It was? Last time I read it sold way WAY less than Absolution.

 

[border]

They probably should have done a traditional disc release for Hitman, rather than that weird staggered episodic schedule.

When you are betting the farm on every game you produce, it doesn't make a lot of sense to cut retailers out of the loop.

 

[Deadstar]

Someone buy IO! What are you doing!

 

[Ray Down]

Someone buy IO! What are you doing!

SE is trying to get someone too.

 

[SmokedMeat]

I feel things would have been different with a non episodic release model. And a better marketting because i feel that somehow, the game did not have the marketting it deserved.

I'm thinking the same. I wonder how Hitman would've performed had they just released a complete retail game with some solid marketing?

In this industry there's constantly new releases vying for the attention of the consumer. I don't think many are following along waiting for new episodes of a game. It was likely lost in the shuffle and forgotten after the first episode.

IO is such a talented studio, it's hard to accept. Hopefully things work out for everyone.

 

[Foffy]

((((((((((((

I was hoping this wouldn't happen.

 

[Deadstar]

I'm thinking the same. I wonder how Hitman would've performed had they just released a complete retail game with some solid marketing?

In this industry there's constantly new releases vying for the attention of the consumer. I don't think many are following along waiting for new episodes of a game. It was likely lost in the shuffle and forgotten after the first episode.

IO is such a talented studio, it's hard to accept. Hopefully things work out for everyone.

I anticipated each month's release. I was playing Hitman for a full year and it was exciting. If the full game came out all at once I wouldn't have played it nearly as much. The episodic model was fantastic for me.

 

[thepenguin55]

It did quite a bit better than that, the steam version alone has sold around 600k copies.

THAT's what i was thinking of! The Steam version.

 

[border]

I anticipated each month's release. I was playing Hitman for a full year and it was exciting. If the full game came out all at once I wouldn't have played it nearly as much. The episodic model was fantastic for me.

Probably 70%+ of the console game market is physical/retail. Ignoring that audience was ill-advised at best.

 

[Matt]

Well, that's one way to make the studio more attractive as an acquisition target.

 

[Rumblebones]

Microsoft should buy them out.

 

[Gjerven]

They should definitely have marketed the fully completed retail game more, considering the fact that several people in this thread isn't even aware of its release.

Sad day for IO and the ones affected.

 

[Theslammer]

I guess I can keep my tag here but man

I wish I could offer something besides =(

=(


=( =\

 

[Bigboss242]

Sony help them damn it.

 

[Ray Down]

Sony help them damn it.

Ubisoft and EA Motive are already helping.

 

[Parsnip]

Well, shit.

Hitman was my goty last year, this is a damn shame.

 

[GonzoCR]

Dammit, they make the best game of 2016, and this is what happens

Best of luck to those laid off, hope they land on their feet quickly.

 

[Fury451]

Record profits at Square Enix. Hitman is successful both critically and commercially. This leads to:

Square looking to sell I/O
Laying off staff

Good job, Square.

Hitman was critically and fan lauded- imo it's the finest entry of the concept- but it wasn't a commercial hit.

 

[sk3]

Has square had a single "commercial hit" from their western studios? It seems like they label every single title a failure regardless of how much they sell. Smells like hollywood accounting.

Tomb Raider
Deus Ex
Just Cause
Hitman

 

[Ray Down]

Has square had a single "commercial hit" from their western studios? It seems like they label every single title a failure regardless of how much they sell. Smells like hollywood accounting.

Tomb Raider
Deus Ex
Just Cause
Hitman

First Tomb Raider was fine over time and so was the original Dues Ex from Montreal.

But from this gen not so much.

 

[border]

Rise of the Tomb Raider may have been successful, depending on how much money Microsoft poured into the project.

I think it's only a matter of time before Square's strategy of humping 90's IPs results in disaster. Even the Final Fantasy 7 remake appears to have been in development for so long that it may not recoup the extensive expenditures.

 

[Remembrance]

This game clicked for a handful of us who went on to play it for hundreds of hours each. Imagine if games could earn money by being played.

Instead, the way for a game like this to profit would have been for millions to buy the whole game but only a fraction of them to play more than a quarter of the way through. We live in a world where games earn money by not being played.

 

[PREC0GNITIVE]

This game clicked for a handful of us who went on to play it for hundreds of hours each. Imagine if games could earn money by being played.

Instead, the way for a game like this to profit would have been for millions to buy the whole game but only a fraction of them to play more than a quarter of the way through. We live in a world where games earn money by not being played.

This post hurts man. You're so right. I adored this latest hitman and still play it weekly. I am really sorry it came to this IO. I hope everyone finds a place to work and I hope (perhaps foolishly) that Season 2 will see the light of day...

 

[border]

Instead, the way for a game like this to profit would have been for millions to buy the whole game but only a fraction of them to play more than a quarter of the way through. We live in a world where games earn money by not being played.

Trophy Statistics alone should have warned them that this was an inevitable conclusion. I suppose their hope was that they could sell the first missions to millions of people, and then some fraction of that playerbase would stick around for subsequent episodes. As appealing as episodic gaming is, I don't think it really works for AAA games. The marketplace is simply too crowded. By the time you release Episode 2, most players will have moved on to something else.

Episodic gaming works for TellTale because they are working on a shoestring budget and their narrative hooks compel people to buy subsequent episodes. But if you make a game with a huge budget where there is little narrative connection between episodes, then you are probably going to get burned.

 

[Screaming Meat]

Thanks for the support guys and just so you know, a lot of us are reading these threads so it's very appreciated. I still have my job but lots of my friends and colleagues don't. We are all drinking beers right now, trying to cope. This team. Out my 14 years as a developer... It's the best. Just amazing talent.

It shows, man. You all did an incredible job on the game. You really got Hitman.

I wish your colleagues luck in finding work.

 

[Pacotez]

I blame reviewers and players.Also bit marketing strategies around both games.

I blame DRM and bugs

 

[More_Badass]

Thanks for the support guys and just so you know, a lot of us are reading these threads so it's very appreciated. I still have my job but lots of my friends and colleagues don't. We are all drinking beers right now, trying to cope. This team. Out of my 14 years as a developer... It's the best. Just amazing talent.

Your team honed their craft masterfully, and delivered a game that exceeded a decade's worth of expectations, for me at least. Blood Money was the game that soldified my love for stealth games and Hitman was everything I had dreamed a Blood Money sequel would be, after my 15 year old self first finished BM all those years ago.

 

[Izcarielo]

Please don't say this. Dishonored 2 didn't do too well but they still let them make Prey. I really really don't want to see Arkane go.



There were rumors that IO would keep Hitman. But I wonder if a buyer has been found already.

I love Arkane with passion, but Dishonored 2 did badly...and Prey is also doing terrible :/
They are basically the only company making inmersive-sims nowadays

 

[Nirolak]

Bethesda isn't likely to can Arkane given their growth ambitions, but they are likely to change what types of games they're making, especially beyond any quick expansions/DLC to existing games.

Prey was also almost done by the time Dishonored 2 shipped, so I wouldn't read allowing that to ship as a commitment to the genre.

 

[Krakn3Dfx]

Thanks for the support guys and just so you know, a lot of us are reading these threads so it's very appreciated. I still have my job but lots of my friends and colleagues don't. We are all drinking beers right now, trying to cope. This team. Out of my 14 years as a developer... It's the best. Just amazing talent.

You guys have produced some of my favorite gaming content ever, and Hitman was easily my 2016 GOTY with 200+ hours invested. Here's hoping those who were let go land on their feet and IO gets to continue their work as a group under another publisher.

 

[Barry Burton]

Bethesda isn't likely to can Arkane given their growth ambitions, but they are likely to change what types of games they're making, especially beyond any quick expansions/DLC to existing games.

I could see them becoming the off-cycle Elder Scrolls/Fallout studio while BGS does something new.

 

[Pandora012]

Bethesda isn't likely to can Arkane given their growth ambitions, but they are likely to change what types of games they're making, especially beyond any quick expansions/DLC to existing games.

Prey was also almost done by the time Dishonored 2 shipped, so I wouldn't read allowing that to ship as a commitment to the genre.

Don't say that. Arkane is one of my favorite developers. While I imagine I might like a new direction, I love the types of games they've made.

 

[memoryswap]

I'd be curious to know what the IO guys think about this situation. Two big questions in my mind are:

- why were HITMAN sales so poor?
- is there a clear path to making the franchise profitable again?

 

[Ushojax]

This is Absolution coming back to bite them. A game that bad was always going to damage future Hitman games.

 

[fireflame]

This is Absolution coming back to bite them. A game that bad was always going to damage future Hitman games.

There was room for a comeback, the main issue was they decided to experience the episodic formula on this series(why specifically Hitman, i don't know) and many people, being both disappointed by this decision and Absolution, gave up on it.

 

[True Fire]

Hitman was BETTER because of the episodic format. It's tragically ironic if the format was what brought the game down.

I have a feeling that we'll be getting a "Killer For Hire" Kickstarter from former IO devs in the future, and it makes me sad.

 

[Futurematic]

The best Hitman game (& my favourite, eventually) delivered in a brilliant way (except for opening PR, and sometimes weird pricing) that encouraged players to dig into emergent systems, a combination of fantastic immersive sim-like design with a different focus & the best of stealth puzzle boxes. There's a lot of people gone that should be snapped up stat by developers who want to learn from some of the best in the business.

Suggestion? Sell a box at retail at launch of the first episode with: Season 1 disc + download code for season 2 + register for shipped season 2 disc when season is finished. Doing it the other way around didn't work, and new fans have a full season of content to play while waiting for the new season 2 episodes.