Hitman 3 being renamed to World of Assassination this month

Developer IO Interactive has announced that Hitman 3 will be rebranded and renamed to World of Assassination, with Hitman 1 and 2 incorporated.

IOI says that even back in 2015 when the first rebranded Hitman started out episodically, the plan was to evolve the series over time and make a foundation for future Hitman games. Here’s what this all actually means, starting on January 26th, the following changes are happening:

• Hitman 3 will become ‘Hitman World of Assassination’, which will also include access to Hitman 1 and Hitman 2 through our existing Access Pass system. Current Hitman 3 owners will get a free upgrade to Hitman World of Assassination on all platforms
• We’re drastically simplifying the purchase experience for new players. Hitman World of Assassination will be the single available option to start playing.

These two changes mean that “all new players and existing Hitman 3 owners will have the same base content ownership. There will be no more confusion over which edition to buy, what content you own, how to redeem Legacy packs or import locations, etc. We’re done with that”.

And that’s fair comment, because things got confusing with previous Hitman titles being released several times, under Square Enix, and Warner Bros, before IOI went independent with Hitman 3. To make things even easier, there will be two version of the game to buy, and these will replace all the existing current ways to buy the games.

• Hitman – World of Assassination (approx. $70 USD or local equivalent)
  Includes: Hitman 3, plus H1 GOTY Access Pass and H2 Standard Access Pass
• Hitman – World of Assassination Deluxe Pack (approx. $30 USD or local equivalent)
  Includes: H3 Deluxe Pack, H3 Seven Deadly Sins Collection and H2 Expansion Access Pass

The developer says that “We want the experience for new players to be straightforward and concrete. We believe the above changes will achieve that. However, for existing players, who cover a huge matrix of different ownership combinations, we’re being a little bit more flexible – but still with a strong approach for simplicity”.

On Steam, we are going to implement ‘complete the set’ functionality for the three DLC packs included in the Hitman World of Assassination Deluxe Pack (H3 Deluxe Pack, H3 Seven Deadly Sins Collection and H2 Expansion Access Pass). This will mean you only pay an even split for whatever content you don’t own. For example, if you own 2 of the DLCs, you’ll only pay $10 for the remaining DLC, rather than having to pay full price for the full Deluxe Pack.

On other platforms, we’ve added each individual DLC from the new WoA Deluxe Pack (H3 Deluxe Pack, H3 Seven Deadly Sins Collection and H2 Expansion Access Pass) to the IN-GAME store, again priced with an even split ($10 USD each). If you own some (but not all) of that content, you’ll be able to buy whatever you’re missing – at a new and reduced price.

It seems IOI is getting its ducks in order then, and the studio is busy as there is also a James Bond game in development, which we haven’t heard much about, lately.