IO Interactive offers free Hitman 3 upgrades on Steam after ugly launch

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Gamers were unhappy that Hitman 3 launched on Steam at full price after a year of Epic Store exclusivity.

Hitman 3
(Image credit: IO Interactive)

In response to Hitman 3's "mixed" user reviews on Steam, IO Interactive has announced that everyone who purchased the game on the storefront will be given a free upgrade to a higher-tier edition of the game.

Hitman 3 was one of the best games of 2021, but it was hit with a flood of negative user reviews when it launched on Steam last week. The problem isn't the game, but the price: Aggrieved "fans" felt that after a year of Epic Games Store exclusivity, there should have been a launch discount for the Steam release—or that a year-old game shouldn't still be at full price at all.

To be clear, that's not the only issue. Some reviews complain about difficulty connecting to servers (which is particularly frustrating for a singleplayer game), while others say the many different editions on offer are unnecessarily confusing. But pricing is clearly the chief problem: As one recent negative review puts it succinctly, "Wonderful game, terrible pricing and microtransactions."

After a week of pushback, IO Interactive is taking action to staunch the bleeding. "Our Hitman 3 launch on Steam didn’t go as planned," the studio announced. "We were excited to bring Hitman 3 to Steam with new content and we knew that anticipation and excitement levels amongst our Steam players was high, especially as the game had been an Epic exclusive for a year."

"Ultimately, we didn’t meet our own expectations of a launch experience and we don’t like that our Steam community is beginning their Hitman 3 journey in this way."

To address the complaints, everyone who owns the standard edition of Hitman 3 on Steam, or purchases it there prior to February 19, will be upgraded to the deluxe edition, while owners of the deluxe edition or the Hitman Trilogy on Steam will get an upgrade to the Seven Deadly Sins Collection.

The upgrades will roll out automatically through Steam beginning today, January 27. "Simply launch your Steam copy of Hitman 3 and the new content from your free upgrade will be waiting for you to enjoy," IO said.

Andy Chalk
Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.