Is Elusive Target "Arcade" no more...?

That’s damage control because of the colossal fuck up they had at launch. :joy:

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OK, a couple more question…

What’s the plan going to be for “new players” of Hitman WoA when the upcoming physical disc version of the game is released in August with regards to ETA and regular ET’s?

We’re already into Year 3 ET’s as it is so are they going to repeat (again) for these potential “new players” to WoA or will they be available (again) in ETA with more arcade content coming soon?

(…or will all ET’s just simply be made available to everyone anytime and all the time WITHOUT the need for ETA come Aug 25th’s WoA physical copy release date?)

Alright, a few questions (3) and not the couple questions (2) I initially promised, but I appreciate any insight or feedback. THX

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The best answer I can give: We don’t know.

New ETAs are most likely dead seeing how that mode was abandoned for months, which is a bit of a shame really (Decievers are still not properly replayable and I kinda liked parts of this mode). But we can never be fully sure.
After all, there was a mention of new escalation this year, despite last year not having many of those, so maybe there’s hope for ETA as well.

As for ETs, I can only speculate on what will happen next:

  • Nothing. ETs end. Late joiners are just locked out.
  • Game gets dragged into Y4 of content that’s rather uneventful beyond community contracts and ETs.
  • IO keeps adding challenges as alternative ways to get ET suits like they did with Florida Fit with Gloves. Though that outfit was a special case, so that pattern repeating is not that certain.
  • There’s some sort of permanent automatic ET rotation from now on or something else that makes their rewards repeatedly unlockable after support ends.

I’d say outcomes 1 and 3 are most likely due to them being probably the simplest to do on IO’s side. But once again, I’m just speculating.

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they really just need to make them all available permanently. it would be incredibly stupid not to do that, the gimmick is over

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I really hope is option 3 or something similar, locking people out of the ET unlockables would be a very big dick move that I really don’t see IO doing. So far they’ve really cared about making previously unobtainable unlocks available for everyone (ghost mode suit, The Undying items, the stadia exclusive content), so it’s likely that when ETs are finally dead they will make the suits permanently unlockable.

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tbh I would be surprised if once OG ETs are done for good if IO doesn’t just move the suit unlocks over to the Arcade. It would make the most sense since it would keep the items available to new players while also keeping them associated with the missions that they were tied to originally and would give new players even more reasons to play the Arcade.

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I’m still unsure as to whether we’ll get a full roadmap for Year 4 content to be fair? I have a gut feeling Year 3 is bringing the WOA content to a slight close. I think we’ll still get community contracts etc like you said, but I suppose there’s only so many times IOI can reactivate past Elusive Targets. I guess Option 3 you’ve pointed out does seem a good logical way for new players to obtain unlockable suits :slightly_smiling_face:

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I’m thinking they’ll (eventually) make ETs permanent and available to everyone, just like the Sarajevo Six. Dunno if by ETA or just ETs by themselves, plus Freelancer’s Prestige grind and community challenges for the remaining life of WoA. My two cents…

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It’s only been two weeks and this has not aged well.

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Yeah, lol, at this point, nothing’s off the table.

I do not believe that the arcade will be updated again.
However, after hearing the recent announcement of The Drop, I can’t help but wish I could play an arcade consisting of 3 missions, “The Wildcard”, “The Undying” and “The Drop”.

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Yeah IO sure got The Drop on us this time.

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Don’t forget The Undying Returns.

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Yes, I would like to see a Returns version.

I actually suggested this on The Drops’ page, and god I hope that turns out to be their secret plan endgame.

I mean, it’d be the single most expensive piece of content they’d ever make due to the licenses involved, but I’d love them for it.

Get on it IOI.

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You know, I truly question the argument of these ETs not being able to be brought back because of the price to get the rights to the actors again. Obviously the reason why they were able to get them in the first place was because they were cheap; I very much doubt they went around asking high-profile celebrities if they could use them in a game. It makes more sense that they would approach people just familiar enough to make the gimmick work and just cheap enough to afford doing it. Gary Busey was already pretty much an out of work C-lister at the time he was brought in, and Sean Bean, love him, but let’s be honest, he hasn’t appeared in anything truly high profile since Lord of the Rings and GoT season 1. We’re not talking about getting the rights to use Tom Cruise or Samuel L. Jackson or Snoop with all these celebrity ETs; we’re talking two who hardly anybody born after 1995 has heard of and one who’s identified as Ned Stark or the One Does Not Simply Meme Guy. Is it really unreasonable to think they can’t get a deal with Bean and Busey again, especially after whatever they dishes out for Vegas, who at least seems to be top tier in his niche?

The real issue with the other celebs might be not the price itself but the parties involved on the contract, so it isn’t as simple as just making a new deal with the guys. Those deals were very likely done by the publishers of their respective games (Square for 2016, Warner for 2018), so there might also be some contractual obstacles that prevents IO from releasing this missions. Those same contract restrictions (possibly beetween Square and Sony) might have been the reason why they couldn’t release S6 until now. It’s more of a legal problem than a money one.

Yet again thought, they were able to work around the restrictions for S6, not without a price of course, hence why they are DLC despite them being originally free. It’s not impossible for the celeb ETs to come back, but still it would be hard. IO definately knows we want them back, so I still have hope.

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No, because it worked as a marketing tool for the game. They’re not cheap.

Sean Bean is a prolific actor, and so is Busey in some circles.

Um…sure? Sean Bean is still in demand, what even is this argument?

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You have to admit that there is still a clear difference in the salaries or licensing fees that an actor like Tom Cruise can demand versus the fees that Busey can. The point that Heisenberg was making wasn’t that Busey or Bean were “cheap” in the sense that they cost nothing - it was that they cost comparatively little.

That was pretty clear.

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:point_up_2:This. Should think it was obvious. And in regards to Sean Bean still being in demand, I didn’t say he wasn’t. I said he hasn’t been in anything high-profile since the last two things he’s most known for, and I was careful to phrase it that way. What that means is, he can’t charge excessive amounts of money for roles or even rights to his likeness because he’s not big enough to warrant it, like some of the celebrities I listed as examples of ones who are, and so he’s cheap enough for IOI to afford.

If IOI were to use the voice and likeness of, say, Eminem or Robert Downey Jr in an ET, and only ran it once and never again, I could understand it being that they could only afford an agreement for a one-time appearance and couldn’t rework it later for future returns because of the price involved, because somebody as big as Eminem or RDJ can reasonably charge through the nose for use of their likeness and voice. Bean and Busey however, no matter how well-loved they might be, are not top tier celebrities and would have asking prices far more manageable.

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