I would love it if it’s Sean Bean again, but in a completely different mission this time.
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In all fairness, the MMA ring could just be thematic, a role for an celebrity actor/actress to play.
The reason I’m uneasy is because the two main names that are running around for MMA celebrities, including in this thread, are disgusting people, well past my threshold for offensive. Something that is well known and accepted by their industry.
In general, as speculative/potential as it is I don’t like having my current impression that IOI would find acceptable to promote this kind of persons/kind of industry if the money is right.
(here is hoping that it’s a thematic role made to take the piss at them)
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In my opinion, the fact that any given elusive target is or isn’t a celebrity is really immaterial. I didn’t personally get any more pleasure or gratification from taking out the Sean Bean-inspired elusive target than I did the Politician. The Drop didn’t interest me any more or less than the boxer guy.
If the mission is good, well-planned, well-executed, and the story is engaging it won’t matter to me whether this new target is a well-known fighter or just some random nobody.
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Yeah, really the novelty of the Undying only comes in because of the meta joke of Sean Bean always dying in his roles as the only reason why having him do the role was considered special. If it was just the fact that it was a famous person in the role, it wouldn’t be necessary to have the Undying’s gimmick, and if the gimmick was the sell, then it wouldn’t be necessary to hire an actor known for dying to do it. Same can be said for Busey and Vegas; the fact that they’re famous in and of itself only creates so much interest, but Busey’s ET mission, from what I hear, wasn’t really special in any way aside from the fact he was in it and Gary Cole had a cameo. Meanwhile, for Vegas, his ET wasn’t itself special, but the new layout for the map, as well as the fact that we thought new ETs were done, was what led to such positive reception for the Drop. It didn’t depend on celebrity status to sell, as most players didn’t know who the guy was beforehand.
So, unless there’s some very specific thing tied to the fame of any future celebrity ETs, the fact that they’re celebrities in real life is only one step up from being plain old regular ETs, with what changes are made to the map and mission that they are part of being the real meat of their involvement. The only other way the celebrity status sells by itself is if the celebrity in question is someone whom most players would want to fantasize killing anyway, and if that’s the case, they likely wouldn’t want the controversy of including them in the game to begin with, if Busey is too hot a topic to bring back. So it’s not likely we’re gonna someone whose celebrity status itself strongly inspires the desire to play the ET, but more how good a new mission is crafted around them.
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The Wild Card was a bit of an anomaly among the elusive targets.
It was the result of a poll where the audience voted on whether they preferred Gary Busey or Gary Cole as the target. Both are present in the mission and both act as if they are targets with body guards, target lockdown, etc. Playing the mission it feels very much like the entire thing was complete before the voting ever took place and all IOI/Square Enix had to do was mark whichever one was the actual target once the voting was finished.
At the time that the mission came out, Hitman (2016) had been available for a few months but sales were not as strong as the studio had hoped. Remember that Square Enix dropped the game and it was picked up by Warner Brothers for Hitman 2 by 2018. The episodic nature of the first game in the trilogy was confusing to people and there were quite a few who simply waited until the entire game was available rather than buying it an episode at a time. I, for one, didn’t even know that the game existed until well into 2018. Bring Gary and Gary into the game was a marketing ploy to boost sales more than anything.
Busey and Cole’s celebrity status is somewhat questionable. The only thing I really no Gary Cole from is Office Space. While I knew of Gary Busey going back to the 80s, by 2016 he wasn’t exactly an A-list star. Whether The Wild Card actually boosted sales of the game I don’t know, but I can’t imagine there were a bunch of Gary Busey (or Gary Cole) fans hanging around who suddenly got interested in Hitman solely because of the Elusive Target.
If you haven’t seen the original ad from back then, it’s worth a watch purely for the comedy value of hearing both Gary and Gary debating which of them is the worst person.
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Damn IOI missed the opportunity to have one of them say “I casually drop guns in public places” :x
Personally I think the whole “how would you kill me” conversation with the Undying is hilarious, and it probably wouldn’t have worked with anyone else than Sean Bean. His quips on parallels between assassination and acting are also great, although obviously it would have been funny with any actor.
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[quote=“LandirtHome, post:169, topic:20986”]The MMA ring could just be thematic, a role for an celebrity actor/actress to play.
[/quote]
Ooh, hadn’t thought of that. Good point. The celebrity ET could also just be a fan, attending an MMA/**UFC event.
**Note: The teaser depicts an Octagon shaped cage. The UFC owns the trademark for that specific shape of cage and the name “Octagon” regarding a fighting cage. Hope IOI knows that.
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I would absolute love if we got another vote like that for a future CelebrET! That would be fun, and engaging, and maybe get some new (or returning) players’ attention.
It reminds me a bit of the Twitter hashtag voting in that one Black Mirror episode with the killer robot bees though… 
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I seem to have started a thing. 
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I mean it’s a good thing
In my opinion the other ways to shorten aren’t great
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It’s your best contribution to the world of Hitman and its community in the better part of a decade of contributions. 
(Being actually serious, it is a fucking genius creation and you deserve props for getting there first with it.)
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Well I know a teaser is coming soon
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You have to trademark this iconic phrase
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I am a bit of a tease! 
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We talking “soon” as in sometime in the next few days? Next few weeks? Or “soon” like how the red supergiant star Betelgeuse will go nova “soon,” like maybe this millennium, maybe next?
(Not trying to be a wise-ass, I’ve just never had a chance to use that particular example until now)
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Brother you’ve had so much practice that you do not need to try.
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I know, but you guys are all used to that from me, @Combatglue is not, and I didn’t want him to think I was mocking him for real.
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Hehe,
I am hoping it drops at the end of the week, that is the plan at least.
(But this one is a bit different, so it might take a longer time.)
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I honestly didn’t expect such a revealing response. Thanks for the clarification.
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Well, don’t tell anyone… 
Hoping the asset is not delayed… 
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