I doubt they’ll be winding down WoA and putting their live service focus onto 007 First Light. On Steam, the 007 patch last week moved the needle slightly for people playing the game on Steam during the weekend, but then things went to normal and set a new all-time low during the week.
I suspect they’ll keep WoA limping along for some time, since it has more people playing it than 007, meaning more opportunities to sell $5 DLCs and make more money from the players.
Until the WoA cash cow winds down and people stop buying the DLCs, I don’t think they’ll pull the pin on it.
I just don’t really get the vibe that they’ll be ending support for Hitman WoA anytime soon. The Wizard patch is the most substantial we’ve seen in the game since Freelancer’s launch at the end of Year 2. So many great things in it, from all the L-IV Access Dongle features to finally fixing Hokkaido’s map! And they managed to deliver it when most of the focus was on 007 First Light’s launch!
Even if it is “live service” with occasional content updates, you do have to look at Hitman as a single player experience. The majority of live service games are multiplayer in a distinct capacity, in that they don’t really work without having players be content for each other, and the ‘service’ is ongoing content updates in a way that supports that multiplayer experience. Think Fortnite (PvP), Path of Exile (trading), DOTA/League of Legends (PvP), Helldivers (PvE), or any MMO (everything).
In all those examples it’s other players that drive your gameplay forward, because those players are the content. Every encounter and experience will be different. By contrast, Hitman is single player and fairly static. Sure we’ve got contracts, but playing through them is done solo, and only the sharing of the creation and comparing your score on the leaderboard involves other players - there’s no gameplay interaction.
It’s part of why I’m so excited for co-op, and all the potential it has. Imagine a Freelancer Versus mode as an official implementation of Roulette Rivals. Think Ghost Mode but without the predefined targets. Who can be the first to kill a randomised target with a randomised weapon and disguise? What about five targets? What if it’s a 2v2? What about a 5 player free-for-all? These are all vectors for player interaction that Hitman is currently missing, and it would certainly give you something to do.
Well, I don’t play multiplayer games and won’t be starting anytime soon. While I’m glad that a cooperative mode will be introduced, and I am empathetically excited for other players to experience that, I also know that I’ll never play it since it just doesn’t interest me. I don’t like competition in almost any form.
AFAIK there’s not going to be any competition in coop mode since both players work towards the same goal? At least that’s how I understand it. Like how in Dark Souls you can team up with other players to help them / get help against some bosses.
It will be very strange hearing Diana as Knight and Stone’s handler, but I guess it was her that setup ‘The Shadows’, which Knight and Stone were a part of, so it will all make sense.
It makes sense that she would be a handler for other agents besides 47. Sure, his missions take priority, nobody else at the agency had a more critical work load, but during those periods where 47 wasn’t with ICA, or during times when he had no contracts, Diana still needed to work, so it stands to reason that she’d serve as handler for other operatives.
I will agree with this that the three month period for roadmaps kinda dies by half way through the 2nd month and then we get rerun elusive targets every Friday that we have access too whenever
Look at dead by daylight they just realised Jason probably the same month as the wizard came out and since then they have already announced and teased the next chapter/killer I think something io has slowly stopped doing is promoting and hyping elusive targets before they’re released
I think the only time it worked was with them announcing the next elusive target straight after Eminem which gave it a lot of hype. They were posting countdown days with pics that had us speculating. But this time we’ve had nothing and we know nothing unless you’re in the leaks even there there’s nothing it kinda just makes you a bit bored waiting around without any news
In fairness to @Melusca , the comment on the cooperative mode and competition was a reply to me. I had stated that I wouldn’t want to play that mode because I don’t like competition and Melusca correctly pointed out that there shouldn’t be any competition in that mode since, by definition, it’s cooperative.
