Next-Gen Hitman Going Back to its Roots, Abandoning Casual Audience

Hitman: Absolution didn’t exactly hit the mark for veteran assassins. The Eidos-developed project attempted to bring in a more casual audience unaccustomed to the many machinations of the series, but Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda recently talked to Nikkei Trendy (via Siliconera) about why this won’t be the case with the Xbox One and PS4 sequel.

“If you focus too much on the global aspect, you might lose sight of who you’re actually making the game for,” Matsuda said. “For example, if you look back at 2013, we’ve had some home console games made for a global audience that struggled.

“The development team for Hitman: Absolution really struggled in this regard. They implemented a vast amount of ‘elements for the mass’ instead of for the core fans, as a way to try getting as many new players possible. It was a strategy to gain mass appeal. However, what makes the Hitman series good is its appeal to core gamers, and many fans felt the lack of focus in that regard, which ended up making it struggle in sales.

“So, as for the AAA titles we’re currently developing for series, we basically want to go back to their roots and focus on the core audience, while working hard on content that can have fans say things like ‘this is the Hitman we know.’ I believe that is the best way for our development studios to display their strengths.”

A more core-focused project could be exactly what the franchise needs to regain relevancy. Look to hear more about the next-generation project in the coming months.