Why HITMAN Launching as an Incomplete Game is Bad News For Gaming

After a flurry of questions following their E3 announcement, the team behind the next gen Hitman has announced their plans for the games release this year. Hitman for Xbox One and PS4 will be launched December 8th as an "incomplete game."  The official statement on their site in part reads:

What we release on December 8th is not the full game. It’s a sizeable chunk of it. Throughout 2016 we’ll release more locations and missions until the story arc is done and finished. All of that content is included in the $60 price. 

They also said that the series would not be episodic, but rather more content would come as it was available.

While incomplete games have been released to the public before (Destiny), this is the first time a company has outright said they are going to ship an unfinished game at full price to consumers. Some have heralded the honesty of the team for letting people know out the gate, but a decent fold of the gaming community expressed their concern.

Of course the simple gaming argument suffices in this discussion in the form of "you don't like it, don't buy it." but what we are witnessing could be the next startling trend in gaming.

While the honesty that the game is incomplete was a nicer gesture than the usual "oops, sorry" after purchase, it's essentially a test run that other developers will be looking to going into the future. It could play out many different ways, all of which potentially changing the way we game.

So in the perfect scenario, gamers buy and support, and Hitman provides a bunch more content upon the initial dump. Ideally, this is what both sides want, but really it's potentially the worst scenario in terms of result. If gamers buy this at launch, we are telling developers we do not care if we pay for half-baked work. To be fair we already have told them that with pre-orders and season passes, but this would really drive the nail in the coffin.

Sure, Hitman may make good, but then what about the next Destiny? Batman? You see where I'm going with this.

"You don't like it, don't buy it."

This is probably what a good amount of the community will do. Many will wait for the game to enter a more complete stage and then purchase for a cheaper price down the road. It's a smart play, as you save money, but definitely a lose for the development team. A small player base supporting may hinder the team from continuing more content for a product that already is losing money. In turn, we get robbed from game content that was axed to compensate for costs...

I see a lot of people who simply are saying they'll buy at launch and then return for full price if they don't make good on the promise. Honestly, this is the best outcome in terms of gamers vs. game developers, provided you can get full price on the refund (XOne I know will grant one full digital refund per gamer). The beauty of doing so means it comes out of the console's pocket and not the developer's. With a lot of games floundering lately and gamers on Steam, PS4, and XOne reporting success in doing this, I guarantee this practice will either come to a close soon, or consoles will start punishing developers for selling broken games.

I'm not going to be someone who is swayed that incomplete games are a good thing for the industry. Do I pity the developers who have to work long hours to finish a game? Sure. Do I feel any remorse for the marketing team who knows they take a profit loss not launching in the holiday season? Hell f****** no. We already pay for pre-release content, additional content, and in game content...at least give us a full game at launch, guys.