Epic Games scrambles to find a solution following Hitman 3 release issues

The Hitman franchise has a sizable core group of dedicated fans who have been playing for years. However, the recent decision to launch Hitman 3 exclusively on the Epic Games store has caused some issues.

The main issue is that IO Interactive includes all content from previous games in each new release of Hitman and allows owners of previous titles to access this content for free.

When they decided to release Hitman 3 exclusively on the Epic Games store, players who owned the series on Steam found that they would have to rebuy the old Hitman games to access this content.

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Epic has been made aware of the issues with Hitman 3 and is currently seeking a solution

Sorry, the team is looking into this with IO. It’s never Epic’s intent to create a situation where someone who owns a game on Steam would have to buy it again on Epic Games Store to get the full benefits of it.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) January 16, 2021

Usually, the hardest part of getting a solution is convincing the people with the power that a solution is needed with these kinds of issues. In this case, Epic Games was made aware very quickly.

CEO Tim Sweeney posted on Twitter that they are now looking into it.

“It’s never Epic’s intent to create a situation where someone who owns a game on Steam would have to buy it again on Epic Games Store to get the full benefits of it.”

Epic will likely find some suitable solution quickly, possibly even giving Steam owners full copies of the games on the Epic Games store as well. For Epic, future buyers must see the Epic Games Store as a safe alternative to Steam. This will give them a chance to show players that, even when these situations occur, Epic is willing to work towards finding a solution.

Epic Games has a history of paying for exclusivity

@galyonkin is investigating.

— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) January 17, 2021

Hitman isn’t the first game to be struck by controversy as a result of being exclusive to the Epic Games Store. It seems like their strategy to compete with Steam is to get exclusivity for as many popular releases as possible.

This usually results in little more than an inconvenience for most people, as having their game library split across multiple clients can be slightly annoying. The only time it’s really an issue is with these kinds of incentives where players who bought on the wrong platform are left out.

So long as Epic continues to pursue this strategy, it’s likely that this scenario will pop up again. That’s why they need to find a solution now and restore player confidence.

Fans of the Hitman series will have to wait a bit before Epic finds a way to solve this problem, but at least a solution is underway.