Hitman’s release plan has changed again, is now fully episodic

The pricing and release schedule for Square Enix’s Hitman have undergone some more alterations.

In a post on its website for the title, developer IO Interactive has said that the game is now ‘truly episodic’, and the initial Intro Pack release – still set for launch on March 11th – will come with just the Prologue and Paris location.

The Italy level will follow in April, with Morocco joining the game in May. IO says that from there on, Hitman will be updated monthly with three extra locations – Thailand, USA and Japan.

The Intro Pack will set consumers back $15. Extra locations can be bought for $10, with gamers able to purchase everything for $50. IO has also confirmed that the entire package will be coming to physical retail on a disc at the end of 2016.

This is presumably the‘configuration change’that has caused pre-orders for the title to be cancelled on PS4.

This is also the second time Hitman’s release plan has been changed since it was announced during PlayStation’s E3 conference last year.

In September 2015, IO revealed that the initial March content would come with three locations – France, Italy and Morocco, with Thailand, USA and Japan launching monthly between April and June. The Intro Pack cost $34.99 at that point.

When it was first announced, IO didn’t set out a release plan per se, but said that the game would cost "$60, no dollar more, no DLC or microtransactions or stuff like that."

IO also announced that a beta for the game will launch on PlayStation 4 on February 12th, before coming to PC the following week.

Furthermore, IO seems to have more Hitman games planned to follow this. In the same post, the developer says: The first game is part one of a storyline we see expanding over the release of subsequent games – so we want to make absolutely sure we get things right for what will be a great Hitman experience expanding over the coming years. This first step is going to shape what the games will ultimately become."

Hitman was initially set for a December 8th 2015 release, but was pushed back to March 2016.