The Hitman games are being combined as ‘World of Assassination’

Hitman 3 is being rebranded and incorporating content from Hitman 1 and 2, developer IO Interactive has announced.

From January 26, Hitman 3 will become ‘Hitman World of Assassination’ and include access to Hitman 1 and Hitman 2 through the existing Access Pass system.

Current Hitman 3 owners will get a free upgrade to Hitman World of Assassination on all platforms

Explaining the move, IO said it was “drastically simplifying the purchase experience” for new players by making Hitman World of Assassination the single available option to start playing the series.

“Essentially, these two changes will mean that all new players and existing Hitman 3 owners will have the same base content ownership,” it said. “There will be no more confusion over which edition to buy, what content you own, how to redeem Legacy packs or import locations, etc. We’re done with that.”

IO said it’s streamlining the many offerings currently on the stores down to two products. These will replace existing ways to buy Hitman 1, Hitman 2 or Hitman 3:

• HITMAN – World of Assassination (approx. $70 USD or local equivalent) Includes: HITMAN 3, plus H1 GOTY Access Pass and H2 Standard Access Pass.
• HITMAN – World of Assassination Deluxe Pack (approx. $30 USD or local equivalent) Includes: H3 Deluxe Pack, H3 Seven Deadly Sins Collection and H2 Expansion Access Pass.

For existing players, there will be some granular purchase options designed to allow them to purchase additional content packs without rebuying what they own.

On Steam, IO is implementing ‘complete the set’ functionality for the three DLC packs included in the Hitman World of Assassination Deluxe Pack (H3 Deluxe Pack, H3 Seven Deadly Sins Collection and H2 Expansion Access Pass).

This will allow players to purchase just the content they don’t own, it said, such as paying $10 for a single DLC pack, rather than having to pay full price for the full Deluxe Pack.

On other platforms, IO has added each individual DLC from the new WoA Deluxe Pack (H3 Deluxe Pack, H3 Seven Deadly Sins Collection and H2 Expansion Access Pass) to the in-game store, priced with an even split ($10 USD each).

Finally, IO is removing the standalone Hitman 1 and Hitman 2 products from sale on all platforms. “If you already own these games, you’ll still be able to access them in the exact same way that you do today,” it said.

“Of course, the majority of the content included in these games remains playable through Hitman World of Assassination, with all of the improvements that were introduced with Hitman 3.”