Hitman Delayed to 2016

September 22, 2015

The next entry in the Hitman series, simply titled Hitman, was scheduled to come out this December. Now the game has been pushed back to March 2016 in an effort to add more content.

The news comes from a blog post by developer IO Interactive on the Hitman website. Apparently Hitman is the biggest game in the series, and thus the extra time allows IO Interactive to "[obsess] about every detail that you'll experience."

The company plans to release Hitman as a downloadable title at first, with a limited amount of content. The blog post explains the release method and how it affects the delay.

On top of that, we’re going for a new release model where we put out a good chunk of the game when it begins and then release the remaining locations over time. We want to make absolutely sure you all get the best possible experience when you join, so we’ve made the difficult decision to move the initial release date to March 2016. These few extra months will mean we can add more to the launch content of the game, more than we had originally planned, and then follow with a tighter frequency of updates, which ultimately will create a better game for everyone. And in the end, that’s what we’re all looking for.

The post also includes an image comparing the size of a Hitman: Absolution level to one in the new game. Apparently the level in the new Hitman is approximately six times larger than one in Hitman: Absolution, allowing for more player freedom and creativity.

As IO Interactive continues to add new content to Hitman following the digital release, a retail release will follow. But first it will come out digitally on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in March 2016.