166 replies to this topic

[Aeseric]

double post

Edited by Aeseric, 10 May 2012 - 01:49 PM.

[Johnny Drama]

Don't understand the time either. Especially when Hitman ain't as big as the other games yet. I can understand them releasing at that time with Hitman 6 (if Absolution gets mainstream like AC etc.) but now? Very ambitious, and maybe stupid? September just seems perfect..

[Aeseric]

David vs Goliath

[Habit]

Well the core base of hitman fans will purchase the game before buying COD or GTA or AC3 or Halo, so it'll still reach the people it value's most. as like someone else said word of mouth or even a good presentation at E3 can draw in some of the larger audience. Plus everyone will be done with those other games or at least ready for something new by christmas and they can look for Absolution then. I think the timing is okay, although I personally want As soon as possible. Can't play sniper challenge forever!

[Quinn]

I will be extremely happy if it goes up against AC3 and kicks its ass. Just saying.

[910920]

My face was like this all day and night thinking that Absolution will be release in November 20

Edited by 910920, 10 May 2012 - 03:54 PM.

[music is math]

I will be extremely happy if it goes up against AC3 and kicks its ass. Just saying.

Yeah, I'm sure that'll happen. Personally, I'm at least as stoked about AC3 as I am about Hitman or any other game this year (except for GTA5).

[Habit]

I'm excited about AC3 also, but if they released on the same day and I only had money for one, I'd buy Hitman First everytime.

[planzer]

It's quite amusing that the Hitman franchise is knocking on AC's door in references and now in terms of release date; they really must be trying to pile-drive home this whole 'Original assassin' malarkey, not that I'm complaining.
As good as the AC series is, it has taken a dip recently, in my opinion anyway.

In terms of the actual release date; I'm not too fussed about waiting until November, so long as they promise to iron out as many of the kinks as possible.

[Knife Psycho]

Gonna be an exciting year. I'm glad we got a release date, of course sooner would be better than later but am happy it's coming out this year.

[Jay520]

People need to realize that gaming sales during the holidays is huge. And I mean HUGE! It's almost always better to release in the holiday compared to the rest of the year. Sure, CoD / Halo will take large chunk of consumers, but guess what? The remaining active consumers still greatly outnumber the active consumers during Spring / Fall. You want proof?

Let's look at last year. We had Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3, Skyrim, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Batman Arkham City, etc. And these are only the big games. I left out games like Dark Souls or Deus Ex. Suffice to say, the lineup was packed! Surely, a lot of games would be overshadowed, right? Wrong. Take a look for yourselves:

Modern Warfare 3 - Fastest selling CoD ever
Skyrim - Fastest selling TES game ever
Battlefield 3 - Fastest selling Battlefield ever
Arkham City - Fastest selling Batman game ever
Uncharted 3 - Fastest selling Uncharted ever
Gears of War 3 - Fastest selling Gears ever
Dark Souls - Fastest selling Souls game ever
Saints Row 3 - Fastest selling Saints Row ever.

As you can see. Crowded in the holidays is not a bad thing. Now of course, every game wasn't fortunate enough to have similar success. Lets try to find some games that were not fortunate. Assassin's Creed: Revelations did worse than past AC titles. But I think we can say that's because ACR was a weak AC title. I'm having a hard time finding games released last holiday that were great and didn't see series high sales. I'm sure there are more out there, but they weren't probably that good. Take a look at the listed games again. They are all great titles, or at least the critics think so. As long as a game IS great, then it will sell great. However, if you're not, like ACR, then you will be overlooked.

So if Hitman is great, and is reviewed as such, it should be the best selling Hitman game by a pretty good margin. Espescially considering this holiday is no where near as packed as last year's. Hitman will do fine. Releasing in the holiday is good.

Now lets compare 2012 vs 2011. 2011's big games were MW3, BF3, Skyrim, Gears 3, Uncharted 3, Batman, & Assassin's Creed: Revelations. This year we have BO2, Halo 4, Assassin's Creed 3 and... What else is there confirmed? I'm not sure. What MIGHT release? GTA5? So three Big confirmed games with a possible four Versus 2011's seven Big games?Hitman will be fine! (If it's good, of course. Remember, no good games flops during the holiday. It never happens). Now Shut UP and BE HAPPY Dammit!

Edited by Jay520, 10 May 2012 - 05:41 PM.

[Agent 17]

Personally, I'm at least as stoked about AC3 as I am about Hitman or any other game this year (except for GTA5).

I'm excited about AC3 also, but if they released on the same day and I only had money for one, I'd buy Hitman First everytime.

I'm actually more excited for AC3, which is ironic because I have only played AC2, prefer Hitman as a franchise, and have been an active HitmanForum member since 2003. If I only had money for one I'd probably get Hitman just so I could participate in the discussions here, but my excitement level is greater for AC3. Probably because the setting and the nature elements resonate with me much more than what we've seen of Absolution so far.

On a related note-- the first time I saw "the original assassin" in the marketing, I was like "hell yeah!" But the more it goes on I'm not sure I like the supposed rivalry. Hitman and AC don't compete with each other too much, besides that they're being released this year close to each other.

AC has helped filled a vacuum left by Hitman's six-year absence and is a good franchise that doesn't feel derivative at all. It's at least as "original" as Hitman, and I would even say that AC2 is a better game all-around than Blood Money.

There haven't been too many shots on AC so far, but if it keeps on it's going to seem a bit petty. What does Hitman have to prove to AC? And it's hard to talk about being the "original assassin" game when there's EAGLE VISION in Absolution.

--Agent 17

[Cold Shadow]

Hitman and AC do not compete because they are different. But back on ps2 people were talking about the assassin, agent 47. He was the assassin. But now Ezio and Altair became the assassins and that's why IO is doing that because 47 was the first to be known as the assassin, even though he is a Hitman.

[thedeadman_47]

a late release date is sooner than no release date at all

[Watson]

Finally, now I can pre-order it.

[Choronzon]

Pretty ballsy move on IO's part, considering the big name titles being released around that timeframe. Hopefully their decision works out for them.

[Nitro]

People need to realize that gaming sales during the holidays is huge. And I mean HUGE! It's almost always better to release in the holiday compared to the rest of the year. Sure, CoD / Halo will take large chunk of consumers, but guess what? The remaining active consumers still greatly outnumber the active consumers during Spring / Fall. You want proof?

Let's look at last year. We had Modern Warfare 3, Battlefield 3, Gears of War 3, Uncharted 3, Skyrim, Assassin's Creed Revelations, Batman Arkham City, etc. And these are only the big games. I left out games like Dark Souls or Deus Ex. Suffice to say, the lineup was packed! Surely, a lot of games would be overshadowed, right? Wrong. Take a look for yourselves:

Modern Warfare 3 - Fastest selling CoD ever
Skyrim - Fastest selling TES game ever
Battlefield 3 - Fastest selling Battlefield ever
Arkham City - Fastest selling Batman game ever
Uncharted 3 - Fastest selling Uncharted ever
Gears of War 3 - Fastest selling Gears ever
Dark Souls - Fastest selling Souls game ever
Saints Row 3 - Fastest selling Saints Row ever.

Hmm, seems like a good point. And these were all released in the Oct-Dec range? (I think so, just can't remember for sure). And when you say fastest selling - is that the same as most copies sold? Basically, did all these games perform as well as expected/hoped? Not challenging you as I think your point may be spot on, I just don't have the facts in front of me.

[SonicVolcano]

I think people are underestimating the popularity of the Hitman franchise. It will be a big release, I'm sure.

[Mr. ME]

Yea I'm also worried about sales suffering as a result of getting lost among COD/Halo/AC3. I think it'll still do fine and capture the same market previous installments have... but I think it might be losing an opportunity to tap into a significantly larger audience. But if it gets great reviews and strong word of mouth, that should help. So... IO, make it good, m'kay? Thaanks.

It's technically a game where you shoot people, and there are snipers and knives etc....

Broad audience love that, and it's numbers will increase once the review is out, and so far I think Absolution is a worthy GOTY competitor, so all of these help boost the media around this game which in turn sells more.

[Cold Shadow]

If Absolution turns out as good as it sounds and looks so far, then it would definitely be Game of the Year in my book. Usually GOTY winners are well known titles that go well with the masses and the most deserving game usually ends up falling short. But it doesn't matter, if Hitman is great, I will call it my GOTY.