Google, Id and Bungie are the Subject of a Stadia Lawsuit
Google, Id Software, and Bungie are the subject of a class action lawsuit that claims the companies misled customers by saying Stadia games could be played at a 4K resolution.
Reported by ClassAction.org, the lawsuit was filed last year in Queens County Superior Court, but has now been transferred to a New York federal court. The lawsuit, brought by plaintiff Jacqueline Shepherd, centres around claims by Google ahead of Stadia's release that the streaming platform would be "more powerful than both Xbox One X and Playstation 4 Pro combined", particularly in its ability to stream games at 4K resolution.
However, upon launch, it became clear that many Stadia games weren't pushing a true 4K image, but upscaling from lower resolutions. By allowing pre-orders before launch, and not offering full information about the platform's ability to push 4K, the plaintiff alleges that, "Google made false and misleading claims concerning the streaming quality of Stadia’s service in order to generate increased revenue for the Google Stadia division."
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The plaintif includes Id Software and Bungie in the suit because of their advertising for Doom Eternal and Destiny 2 on Stadia, which included mentions of 4K resolutions – but neither game ran at true 4K upon release. The plaintiff alleges that Id, in particular, "wrongfully generated millions of dollars in revenue as a result" of those claims. Id has denied any liability or wrongdoing.
The plaintiff is seeking financial compensation for a number of different factors, as well as an order that forces Google to display the true resolution and frame rate of every game sold on Stadia.
The class action seeks to cover any person in the US who, from June 6, 2019 onwards, bought a Stadia Founder’s Edition, Stadia Premier Edition, or Stadia Pro subscription because of information that Stadia was more powerful than other consoles, or would run all games at 4K. It's unclear how far the lawsuit will progress, but we'll update you as we learn more.
Stadia recently shut down all of its internal development studios – reportedly in part due to Microsoft's Bethesda acquisition – but says the service will receive more than 100 games in 2021. That won't include Terraria, however, as the developer has boycotted Goggle after being locked out of a number of Google accounts.
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Joe Skrebels is IGN's Executive Editor of News. Follow him on Twitter. Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Valheim Hits Record High Concurrent Players for a Survival Game on Steam
Valheim has hit over 500,000 concurrent players on Steam, making it the most successful survival game ever on the platform.
Ms. Marvel Casts Newcomer Laurel Marsden as Zoe Zimmer
Newcomer Laurel Marsden has reportedly been cast as Zoe Zimmer in Ms. Marvel, the upcoming Disney+ series that centers on teen superhero Kamala Khan.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marsden, who recently starred in Quibi's Survive, has now joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe. She will reportedly appear alongside Iman Vellani, who has already been cast in the title role, playing Marvel's first mainstream Muslim hero in the highly anticipated live-action series, which is expected to debut on Disney+ sometime in late 2021.
In the comic books, Marsden's character was introduced over the pages of 2014's Ms. Marvel (Vol. 3) #1, written by G. Willow Wilson with art from Adrian Alphona. In fact, Zoe was the first person that Ms. Marvel rescued - after she fell into the Hudson River - despite being initially perceived as somewhat of a "frenemy" to Khan at Coles Academic High School.
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As a relative newcomer in Hollywood, Marsden made her TV series debut in Quibi's Survive opposite Sophie Turner. Though the streaming service was short-lived, Survive was one of the shows that deserved a watch. The thrilling drama followed the harrowing journey of two plane crash survivors who were forced to battle brutal conditions and personal traumas on their way out of the wilderness.
Ms. Marvel's cast also includes Aramis Knight, Saagar Shaikh, Rish Shah, Zenobia Shroff, Mohan Kapur, Matt Lintz, Yasmeen Fletcher, Laith Naki, Azher Usman, Travina Springer, and Nimra Bucha. Episodes will be directed by Bad Boys for Life duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, together with The Walking Dead helmer Meera Menon, and Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy.
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Disney has already confirmed that both Iman Vellani's Ms. Marvel and Teyonah Parris' Monica Rambeau will appear in Captain Marvel 2, forging new ties between the upcoming series and the MCU movie, which is currently in the works with Nia DaCosta directing. Captain Marvel 2 is slated for release on November 11, 2022, after Ms. Marvel has premiered on Disney+.
For more on Marvel studio's future slate of projects and releases, read our breakdown of the biggest and most noteworthy developments in the MCU, on Disney+, and in comics this year.
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Adele Ankers is a Freelance Entertainment Journalist. You can reach her on Twitter.
AEW Console Game Aiming for Release in ‘About a Year’, Says Kenny Omega
The All Elite Wrestling Game is aiming to release in "about a year" according to AEW Executive Vice President Kenny Omega.
Omega revealed the news in an interview with talkSPORT. "I would say in a perfect world, give it about a year’s time," Omega said. talkSPORT says this suggests a release window of "first quarter of 2022," based on when they conducted the interview.
It was revealed back in November of 2020 that AEW had multiple video game projects in the works under the AEW Games banner. The console game Omega is referring to here is being developed by Yuke's and the mind behind WWF No Mercy, Hideyuki "Geta" Iwashita.
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Elsewhere in the talkSPORT interview, Omega said that the biggest challenge the team is facing is working out a way to represent "the current wrestling style in a way that still makes it feel like the games of old." He added: "Let’s make sure we’re able to make it feel like this is wrestling in 2021, but it still feels like No Mercy, but it still can be fun for not only the wrestling fan, but the casual gamer who picks up a controller and drops his friend on his head."
Omega told talkSPORT that the team doesn't want a launch like Street Fighter 5 or Cyberpunk 2077, but the interview notes that the game will feature "constant updates." "As great as it is on launch, as our roster grows – let’s say we add a pay-per-view name, add a new arena, let’s say we sign whoever, anybody! – we want to be able to support those new additions as well," added Omega.
We learned in January that the AEW console game will feature campaign, multiplayer, create-a-wrestler and "other unusual modes," as revealed by Omega in an interview with IGN Japan. As well as the console game, AEW Games is working on two mobile titles, a wrestling management game and an AEW-branded casino game.
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Jordan Oloman is a freelance writer for IGN. Follow him on Twitter.
Soulja Boy Is Planning on Releasing Another Video Game Console
Following a failed attempt in 2018, rapper Soulja Boy, perhaps best known for his song Crank That (Soulja Boy), is apparently gearing up to release another new game console.
On February 20, Soulja Boy tweeted "coming soon @SouljaGame." When you go to @SouljaGame, the newest Tweet reads that they are "building a new console from scratch, all new design. All new games. All new deals. Let's make history."
There is also an Instagram account that has three images of this upcoming console, and not only does it look similar to an Xbox One S or Xbox Series S, the photos are also accompanied by a controller that looks very much like PS2's DualShock 2.
As previously mentioned, Soulja Boy began selling SouljaGame branded consoles and handhelds in 2018, but they were quickly discovered to just be off-brand emulators that could be found elsewhere.
SouljaBoy stopped selling these systems less than a month after he began, admitting that he "had to boss up, I didn't have a choice."
The day before he stopped selling them, he wrote, in a now-deleted Tweet, "for anyone that thinks Nintendo is going to sue me... Nothings going to happen everything is legit. My console isn’t going anywhere trust me.”
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While this new SouljaGame may have to go against the PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch, it also will have tough competition from the 4K, 240FPS KFConsole that comes packaged with a Chicken Chamber that will keep your chicken warm as you game.
Image Credit: Brad Barket/Getty Images.
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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
CD Projekt Red Is Using DMCA to Remove Tweets That Share Stolen Game Code
Cyberpunk 2077 developer CD Project Red is issuing DMCA takedowns to Twitter users who are sharing stolen code.
As reported by Vice, CDPR notified at least two Twitter users of the takedowns after they shared illegally obtained source code of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. This game code was part of the big cyberattack that CDPR suffered earlier this month that also saw the source code of The Witcher 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 stolen.
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"Description of infringement: Illegally obtained source code of Gwent: The Witcher Card Game. Posted without authorisation, not intended to be released to the public," the DMCA takedown notice read.
One of the users who received the above notice mentioned that their Tweet got taken down as it contained a torrent to download the source code for Gwent. The user also stated that, "Let's just say it wasn't anything I didn't expect."
Tweets by three other users were also issued DMCA takedowns, and those Tweets have been replaced with a message saying that they have "been withheld in response to a report from the copyright holder."
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This source code could have been part of the the files that were reportedly sold in a dark web auction for a sale price that may have reached upwards of $7 million.
DMCA takedowns have been a huge problem for Twitch streamers, and it even caused a hilarious moment when Metallica's BlizzCon concert was replaced with the most non-heavy metal music possible to avoid any copyright issues.
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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
PS5 DualSense Teardown Shows Potential Causes for Drifting Issues
A new DualSense controller teardown video from IFixIt has revealed potential causes for the drifting issues that some PS5 owners have been experiencing.
The video from IFixIt, which you can watch here, explains how the DualSense uses "off-the-shelf joystick hardware with a long history of predictable, preventable issues."
These joystick modules are manufactured by a company called ALPS and have been used by such other controllers as PS4's DualShock 4, the Xbox One and Xbox Elite controller, and the Nintendo Switch Pro Controller.
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The particular model number used in the DualSense controller, RKJXV, has an operating life of two million cycles, while the life span of the center push function is around 500,000 cycles.
IFixIt mentions that, while this number can vary greatly depending on how often you play games and what types of games you play, these parts can exceed their lifespan with just over 400 hours of game time. This "back of the napkin math" is based on IFixIt employees' Call of Duty gameplay.
However, that is assuming there are no drifting issues experienced before then. Much like the Nintendo Switch, there have already been cases of DualSense drifting issues, and a lawsuit has been filed against Sony for these problems.
However, IFixIt mentions that ALPS is most likely not to blame for these drift issues and "probably aren't the villain of this story."
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The main cause of drifting actually appears to be related to the potentiometers, which help sense what type of movement a player is trying to accomplish.
Each joystick has two potentiometers in them that are perpendicular to each other, and they measure both up and down and left and right.
Potentiometers are a three-terminal system that uses voltage to measure the position of the joystick. The third terminal, known as the wiper, slides around a semi-circular track. When you move the joystick, the position of the wiper - relative to a neutral, central position - allows the controller to know where and how you are trying to move.
There are two other parts that can potentially cause issues, a spring that returns the joystick to a centered, neutral position, and one that allows the thumbsticks to be pushed in.
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Over time, the spring can stretch and create a new neutral position off-center. This would make it so the potentiometers think your thumb is moving the joystick even if you aren't, causing drift.
Contaminants and imperfections can cause also drift, as they can alter the voltage and can cause erroneous readings across terminals. These range from plastic dust from components grinding together to outside elements like food or drink.
IFixIt offers some solutions for fixes, including taking off the potentiometers housing and cleaning or replacing wipers. Some of the more advanced options include soldering and there are plenty of YouTube videos on how to do that if you wish to try it.
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If not, it is recommended to try to get a warranty replacement or, unfortunately, purchase a new DualSense. It's also important to note that drift can occur to a brand new controller, as advanced calibrations are needed to ensure the potentiometers are functioning properly, and sometimes this does not happen.
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Have a tip for us? Want to discuss a possible story? Please send an email to newstips@ign.com.
Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamBankhurst and on Twitch.
How Rainbow Six Siege’s New Look Embraces Its Five-Year Evolution
Booting up Rainbow Six Siege will soon present you with a fresh logo, new key art, and redesigned menus. Gone is the gritty navy and grey colour palette, replaced by the bright blue and orange of both Siege’s in-game teams and esports arenas. The familiar image of monochrome soldiers blasting through a wall has been swapped out for a montage of Siege’s many heroic operators.
The change in Siege’s presentation design tells a story. It’s the story of five years worth of gameplay evolution. Since its launch in 2015, Rainbow Six Siege has gradually shifted away from its hard-edged tactical shooter roots, adopting wider ideas and doubling down on its nature as a competitive video game. The new art reflects this; Siege knows it is a PvP sport, not a realistic tactical campaign.
“This is an opportunity to take a look at where Siege has been and where it's going, and making sure that everything that we do in and outside of the game matches that,” says Rainbow Six Siege’s Art Director, Alexander Karpazis, while talking to IGN ahead of the Year 6 reveal.
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“This is a modernization of what you see in the game,” he says. “It matches the tone that we have with our new operators and seasons. It makes sure that it speaks to what you feel when you play the game, and what you see when you see our characters.”
As for those characters, the latest addition to the roster is Flores, a master criminal from Argentina. Outfitted in a civilian jacket, soft cap, and Daredevil-style red tinted glasses, he’s a far cry from the tacticool designs most of Siege’s operators sport.
“With Flores, we wanted to investigate an archetype we haven't done before, and the idea of a master thief came up,” explains Karpazis. “We wanted his remote control explosive to have a DIY, Raspberry Pi feel to it, and that made it really fun. However, we always try to balance the idea that he will be featured in combat, and he has to know how to hold a weapon. If the character isn't coming from a more traditional military background, still making it seem like they fit in the world, and that they're grounded with all the other characters that we have.”
While Flores does indicate that Ubisoft is now more than happy to explore beyond traditional counter-terrorism agencies for its operators, Karpazis is keen to dispel any idea that classic millitary designs are being left behind in favour of a more ‘hero shooter’ aesthetics.
“Without spoiling anything that's coming later on in the year, we still have a ton of options when it comes to more traditional military garb,” he says. “We're not running out of reference, there's a huge world of reference out there for us. It's going to be more about how we balance it and make it feel fresh from season to season, and what does that cadence look like.”
It’s not just Ubisoft’s operator designs that are experimenting with the once sacred Tom Clancy formula. Historically in a Tom Clancy game death is the ultimate game over, but Siege plans to challenge this in Year 6.
“We're looking at activities after death, so that players can still be engaged and still have a role to play after they've been eliminated,” explains Karpazis. In the Support Phase of a match, dead players will still have access to defender gadgets and attacker drones, allowing them to better support their team mates and even interact with the action itself. Siege’s Game Director, Jean-Baptiste Hallé, has admitted that during the Support Phase he checks Twitter and YouTube, and so this is a gameplay adjustment to ensure players still have a game to play even when they’ve been killed. It’s a sacrifice of ‘realism’ in favour of creating a better game. But, as Karpazis notes, Siege still has tactical play at heart.
“This is where real life tactics and in-game tactics merge,” he says. “We want players to still be invested in a round even after they're eliminated. They can still contribute a lot and they don't have to sit on a drone cam that was accidentally left pointing into a corner of a room. Having that kind of investment maintained through the duration of an entire match was something that was really important for us. It is a big shakeup, but it's something that we think is important to make sure that the intensity of the game and the fun factor is there.”
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Changes are being made to the Preparation Phase, too. Attacking players will be able to change what operator they’re playing as, rather than being stuck with the character they chose when the round started. For example, if someone playing as Thatcher discovers that the defenders are not using electronics, they can change to a more useful operator before the Action Phase starts.
“It actually answers to the idea of being tactical in the real world,” says Karpazis of this change. “If you were to deploy to a situation, you would have intel and you would bring your gadgets and your gear to deal with that specific situation.”
The evolution of Rainbow Six Siege may have taken it along a road leading away from the likes of Raven Shield and Rogue Spear, but Karpazis and the team at Ubisoft Montreal remain thankful for Siege’s origins.
“The original key art did an amazing job and we still love it to this day, because it really spoke to breaching asymmetry,” says Karpazis of the old image of Blitz bursting through a drywall. “We'll always be thankful for it, and we have immense love for it. It informed some of the decisions we did with our new key art, where we have that asymmetry, attackers versus defenders. But this [new art] is speaking to where the game has moved on to. Whereas before it was more focused on CTUs as being the identity for our operators, now each operator we release has its own unique identity. They are creative, they have their own look, and we want to celebrate that.”
For more on Rainbow Six Siege’s evolution, check out all the changes coming in Year 6 and Operation Crimson Heist.
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Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.
Rainbow Six Siege: All the Changes Coming in Year 6 and Crimson Heist
Ubisoft has announced its roadmap for Year 6 of Rainbow Six Siege, which will deliver a variety of new operators, gameplay changes, and improvements over the course of the next 12 months.
The year starts with Operation Crimson Heist, the first season of Year 6. Headlining the season is new operator Flores; a medium speed and armour attacker from Argentina. His gadget is the RCE-RATERO, a remote control drone with a bomb strapped to it.
Flores is equipped with four RCE-RATERO charges, and while they work similar to a recon drone, there are some differences. When deployed they continually accelerate and cannot be slowed or stopped. They also have a 10 second timer, so must be driven to the target quickly before it explodes. During travel time, the RCE is vulnerable to jammers, electricity, and enemy fire, but when the fuse triggers - either after the timer runs down or when manually started - the device becomes bulletproof and anchors in place for a few seconds before detonation. The explosion will not breach reinforced walls, but it will destroy any defender gadget and kill operators, so it’s an effective clear-up tool. It can even jump, meaning you can bypass bulletproof shields and reach higher-placed gadgets.
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On equipment, Flores can use either the AR33 or the SR-25 rifles, and has the GSH-18 pistol. For secondary gadgets, he can choose from stun grenades or a claymore.
Talking of equipment, Crimson Heist introduces a brand new attacker sidearm: the Gonne-6. This single shot pistol fires an explosive round which will destroy any bulletproof defender gadgets. You only get one bullet, so it needs to be used wisely, but this can help overcome the distinct advantage that defenders currently have.
The map coming with Crimson Heist is a rework of Border, the very first DLC map Siege ever had. It’s not a major change, but is similar in approach to the rework done on Clubhouse. Notable is the slight rearrangement of Armory Lockers, and the expansion of Bathroom to allow it a wider defense zone and provide a rotation opportunity into the second bomb site.
In smaller tweaks, a new pulsing proximity alert has been added to the HUD when attacking drones approach a Mozzie PEST device. The Newcomer Playlist has been revamped with Border, Oregon, Clubhouse, Kafe, Coastline, and Bank on rotation, and their in-match timings altered to be the same as Ranked. There’s also a new Streamer Mode, designed to prevent stream sniping attacks by hiding important information and delaying your matchmaking by a random amount of time. This should make it so stream snipers are less likely to be matchmade with a streamer they are targeting.
That’s all coming in Season 1, but there is much more planned to drop across the year. As ever, new operators are the big pull, and there will be one new operator each season this year. The big news here is that the Year Pass has been retired, and new operators are now the first tier of the premium Battle Pass. They can, of course, still be bought with renown, but Battle Pass owners will have access for two weeks ahead of non-pass owners.
After Flores, the next operator will be a Nakoda Native American. Season 3 will introduce a Croation operator, and Season 4 will add an Irish operator.
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No new maps are planned for Year 6, and reworks will continue to be the norm. After the rework of Border in Season 1, Season 2 will rework Favella, which will remain in the casual map pool and not graduate to Ranked. Season 3 will not feature any major map rework, but will instead provide smaller tweeks for a variety of maps. Season 4 will rework Outback.
As established in Year 5, all seasons will also provide a special event, as well as new arcade modes and core gameplay feature changes. This year, the changes are focused on making attackers stronger and combating the problematic ‘20-second meta’ at high levels of play. Rather than nerfing defenders, a variety of changes will be made to attackers to help strengthen their position. This starts with the addition of the Gonne-6 sidearm in Season 1.
There are also major changes coming to what can be done in the Planning and Support phases, to help ensure that players always have something engaging to do at all stages of the match. Attackers will be able to change their operator pick during the Planning Phase, allowing them to react to what they find during drone scouts. Seeing many electronic devices, for example, may inform a player to change to Thatcher. This will also encourage players to use the phase to scout the location rather than just drive their drone back to their operator.
During the Support Phase after dying, both defending and attacking operators will be able to access and use their deployed gadgets. If an attacker still has a drone on the map, they will be able to drive it around, while a defender such as a Maestro will be able to still use their Evil Eye laser. This will help keep players engaged after death.
Operator stats are being overhauled to make them clearer. The armour statistic of each operator will be changed to ‘health’, and this will be represented by their HP instead of an invisible buff. Low health operators will have 100 health, and medium and high health operators will be buffed by 20 and 40 HP respectively.
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Some fairly major reworks are coming to three operators. Goyo is having his booby-trapped bulletproof shields taken away; instead he will deploy incendiary charges to floors or walls. This will still provide the area denial skill without being too harsh on attacking operators. Mira and Maestro are both getting the same change; the glass in their gadgets can be shattered by attackers, which will obstruct vision. The Black Mirror/Evil Eye will need to be opened to provide sightlines again.
A new customisation system is coming for Elite operator skins, that allows you to mix and match headgear, uniforms, and victory dances. Talking of skins, veteran ex-Capcom designer Ikumi Nakamura has designed eight new skins for a selection of operators, including spookier looks for Dokkaebi, Echo, and Hibanna. There’s also a Resident Evil Jill Valentine skin coming for Zofia.
On the subject of IP crossovers, Ubisoft have also teased something to do with Rick and Morty, but will not say exactly what this will be.
There are also connectivity and DDoS defence improvements planned to ensure a smooth experience. The overall size of the game install is also being shrunk to ensure Siege can be kept on hard drives without hogging too much space.
Alongside all this will be a visual presentation overhaul of the game; a new logo, artwork, colour palette and menu design refreshes the feel of the game and puts the emphasis on the operators.
All these changes will be rolled out over the course of the year. It should be noted that these will all hit the Technical Test Server on PC first, and may live there for an extended period of time, as Ubisoft wants to ensure changes are right before deploying them to the main game. It may be that some changes do not graduate to the main servers.
For more Rainbow Six Siege, be sure to check out the game’s developers reacting to our operator designs, and our documentary about the making of Rainbow Six Siege.
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Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.
Hitman 3 PC Players Can Now Import Previous Hitman Levels If They Own Them
Hitman 3 PC players are now able to import levels from Hitman 1 and 2 at no additional cost if they already own either of the first two games of the World of Assassination Trilogy.
Developer IO Interactive shared the news alongside a Location Importing Guide, noting that all players need to do to unlock these other levels is sign in to their IOI Account and make sure their platform accounts that own the games (i.e. Steam and The Epic Games Store) are linked as well.
This has been an ongoing issue for PC players due to the fact that Hitman 3 is exclusive to The Epic Games Store. While the original Hitman is available on that digital storefront as well, Hitman 2 is still only on Steam. This meant there was no way to prove you owned Hitman 2 prior to this new import procedure.
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IO Interactive shared a few important things to consider before you initiate this process, and they are as follows;
- Double check all your choices before claiming content. They cannot be undone or reversed.
- The content you claim will be an ‘Access Pass DLC’. For example, if you own HITMAN 2, you can claim the HITMAN 2 Access Pass. It’s that simple.
- Once you have claimed an Access Pass, restart HITMAN 3 to access the relevant content. (There are no codes you need to redeem.)
- We recommend using a PC browser, the location importing site is not fully optimised for mobile browsers.
