The 2016 reboot was released onto the storefront, under its Game of the Year edition moniker. Upon release however, Hitman was immediately review bombed on the storefront due to the title’s usage of DRM. This main concern was raised due to the always online connection requirement, even if a fan is playing the game offline in single-player mode. The other concern is due to GOG.com’s “DRM-free” stance, which has been broken by Hitman. Even with a 70% discount on the game when it released, this wasn’t enough to quell the frustrations players had. This backlash was so intense and venomous that it forced the removal of the game from the GOG store.
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The announcement of this removal was posted on the GOG.com forums, from team member chandra. The update informs fans that after the backlash, the team did investigate the matter with this release. The post points out that those who were angry with this were in the right, where the state that Hitman was released in justified its takedown from GOG’s catalog. Considering that the game had a review score being as low as 1.4 out of 5 stars before it was removed, the fans and their feelings were heard.
The post from chandra has them apologizing for the confusion from this release, with the storefront continuing its dialogue with IO Interactive regarding this game and how to proceed further. There might be a chance for Hitman to make a re-appearance on the GOG store if the DRM was removed, though nothing about that specific topic has been brought up further in the post.
The post ends with chandra appreciating the feedback that received over this game’s release, and hope to improve its communication with fans of GOG as well. As GOG is currently still in talks with IO Interactive, there’s no indication if the game will return in a DRM-free format as of this writing. Some fans on the forums praised GOG for taking the correct action regarding this release, with some hoping that Hitman could return to the store too.
Hitman: Game of the Year Edition is available on PC, PS4, Stadia, and Xbox One.
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Source: GOG.com Forum
