EA wants your money, Ubisoft wants your money and now Square Enix wants it too… or do they?

Earlier this week there were reports of gamers receiving e-mails with regards to their HITMAN pre-orders and it made a lot of people nervous. Square Enix quickly tried to reassure fans and clarified things on the official HITMAN Twitter account, stating: 

If your HITMAN preorder is cancelled, don’t panic. Release date is still March 11. We’re adjusting a few things & will update in a few days.

— HITMAN (@Hitman) January 13, 2016

This made things a little bit better for others, but for the majority of the people that pre-ordered, it was a cause for alarm. Delays in the release wouldn’t have caused them to refund the pre-orders, so what would? Well Square Enix just updated the official HITMAN website today which reads:

Now, we’ve always said we won’t put anything out until it’s ready. That means what we release has to hit the quality level you have come to expect from a HITMAN game. To ensure that level of quality, we made a big decision on how we’re releasing HITMAN.

… And this is the part that’s making a lot of people even more nervous, because the very same thing was said when the Final Fantasy VII remake was announced during Sony’s E3 conference. So, we all knew where this was leading:

After a lot of consideration, we decided to take the full leap and publish HITMAN as a truly episodic game experience with a major live component.

Yes, they’ve decided to pull the pre-orders, because they will be releasing the game in parts. Now, some people are okay with this, there’s always that promise of quality and, of course, most people don’t mind paying a little extra or waiting longer for a good game. However, unfortunately for Square Enix, their announcement just pissed off a lot of people. Here are some replies to their Tweet: 

@Hitman I’m out. If I want episodes I go to Netflix. #Shitman

— Markus Hultcrantz (@markushtz) January 14, 2016

@Hitman Please don’t do this. Episodic games are getting annoying… And I don’t really think Hitman is meant for that style…

— VoodooJonny (@VoodooJonny) January 15, 2016 

@Hitman Yeah, I just saw what you’re doing and lost interest. Good thing I didn’t preorder it.

— MetalGearOpz87 (@killerbee2641) January 15, 2016

Now, Square Enix has also stated the “initial release” of the game WILL be on March 11, 2016, but this will only include the first 2 locations in the game, which includes the Prologue mission and the Paris location. This initial release will cost $15 and a new update will be released each month and will have 3 more locations including the USA, Thailand, and Japan, for an additional $10 each. That would place the game at $45, cheaper than the initial price tag of $59, but is that all there is to it? At this point, no one really knows. 

The physical version of HITMAN apparently will not be released until later this year, but the Collector’s Edition will be released at the same time as the initial release on March 11 and will include the following:

• HITMAN Digital Game Download (Full Experience)
• 10” Agent 47 “Chessmaster” Statue
• Hardcover 60-page art book, curated by Art Director, Jonathan Rowe
• Agent 47 Iconic red tie and clip set
• Premium Collector’s Edition packaging (aka the box)
• Guaranteed Beta Access (Feb 12)

The Collector’s Edition will not include a physical copy of the HITMAN, as stated on the official blog. Instead, it will provide access to the full game without having to pay the extra $10 per location. Sort of like a game + season pass bundle and will cost $139.99 / €139.99 / £109.99.