The final entry to the Hitman trilogy that began in 2016; is finally here. Strangely, it’s the only game that I’ve been looking forward to this year; just so, I can finally learn how the story of Agent 47 concludes. And if you’ve pre-ordered Hitman 3 and pre-loaded it, you would have been able to jump straight into the game immediately during the launch yesterday, 20 January 2021. 

Or at least that’s what game launch days were supposed to be. Unfortunately for IO Interactive, the developers of Hitman 3, the launch didn’t proceed as smoothly as they would have hoped it would.

Don’t get me wrong, the game itself worked like a charm and people didn’t quite have a problem with that. The part that was offering up headaches to a lot of gamers were, in fact, the account service.

If you’re someone who has played the last two Hitman games in the trilogy, then you’d know that your progress, unlocks and statistics are always carried forward. This procedure allows you to continue your adventure in the new environment with enhanced visuals and improved mechanism.

And that particular data transfer is handled solely by IO Interactive account service, which has been down for more than ten hours since Hitman 3 launch. So I guess you can assume the frustration emanating from tons of gamers around the world right now. It sure feels like a repeat of what happened to Cyperpunk 2077 on their launch day.

IO Interactive is working on it.

According to the developer’s tweet and the image of Lego 47, the team is still hard at work on solving the issue. And as for its estimated completion time, it’s anyone’s guess at this point. 

While this is most certainly a stressful moment for the team, it does bring up the question of testing such features before the release date. We are gradually seeing more and more games having tons of trouble at launch, and it’s becoming quite the norm.

Perhaps, it’s high time for companies to come with better ways to test their products? And to allocate the appropriate amount of time needed for it. That could save a lot of developers from stressing out on launch days. Just, throwing my two cents out there.

Ibrahim's a hardcore gamer and Star Wars fan. He's obsessed with Obi-Wan Kenobi, even claiming that he's a descendant of the fictional Jedi Master. Other than that delusion, Ibrahim's pretty down to earth, collecting figures and buying games he'll never finish.