Square Enix is trying to sell Hitman developer IO Interactive, but the studio hasn’t pulled the plug on its bold live content strategy.
IO announced a series of new missions and a big update for Hitman. On Friday, the studio will launch two new Escalation Contracts, which are a pack of quests that feature a similar structure but stack in complexity each time you play them. The Spaggiari Subversion will take players back to the beloved Sapienza map while The Asya Attunement will have you using shotguns and laser tripwires in the Bangkok stage. This month, Hitman is also getting 10 new Featured Contracts designed by the community, the next Elusive Target, and a mandatory game patch.
While Hitman is a single-player game, IO has supported it with new content similar to online multiplayer games-as-a-service like Overwatch or Clash of Clans. This keeps players coming back over and over instead of rushing through a set package of content and then moving on to something else.
IO has kept up with smaller updates on an almost weekly schedule since launching Hitman in March 2016. The last episode, which introduced the final map, came out in October. And the studio has kept pumping out new stuff to do in those areas.
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But the developer is starting to reach the end of its planned content amid the news that Square Enix is trying to find a buyer for IO. This leaves the fate of Hitman’s second season of episodes undetermined. For now, however, the developer is working on the next Elusive Target, which is a time-limited mission where you can’t retry after failing. This is the 25th and penultimate Elusive Target — Hitman is only going to get one more after this unless a second season does end up working out.
