IO Interactive says PC players won't need to rebuy Hitman 2 to play its levels in Hitman 3 after all
"We guarantee that players will NOT need to repurchase these games"
Last week, IO Interactive said players would need to own Hitman 2 on the Epic Games Store if they wanted to import its levels to Hitman 3. That was pretty rubbish - for owners of the game on Steam, it meant you either couldn't have those levels, or you'd need to buy it again. Thankfully, IO are looking for a solution, and guarantee players won't need to rebuy the game after all.
"We are continuing to work with our partners to allow PC players who own Hitman 1 or Hitman 2 to import locations from those games at no additional cost," they said on Sunday.
"We guarantee that players will NOT need to repurchase these games."
(Bold and caps emphasis from IO.)
The problem is that both Hitman 1 and 2 originally released on Steam, while Hitman 3 is launching as an Epic exclusive. Back in August, IO advertised that "locations from 1 and 2 can be imported at no additional cost for existing owners". But they revealed on Friday that this didn't count for Steam owners, and they'd have to buy the Hitman 2 Access Pass on Epic to get those locations.
However, IO are working with Epic to sort things, and say the change will be rolled out "in the coming weeks" - which is awkward considering Hitman 3 launches in just two days, on Wednesday the 20th of January.
"We never want players to feel forced to repurchase content on the Epic Game Store that they bought on another PC store so they can access features in a new game," Epic said on Sunday.
The Hitman 1 GOTY Access Pass is still free for PC players who pre-order Hitman 3, or buy it within 10 days of its launch. So, at the very least, you'll have some Hitman 1 levels to play until the Hitman 2 drama is dealt with.