Hitman 5

tok9

The fact that they are calling it fully episodic tells you that the game was built with episodic in mind. The article I linked shows that.

The only thing that actually changed in January was how it was priced.

FAILSAFE 00

tok9 wrote: »

The fact that they are calling it fully episodic tells you that the game was built with episodic in mind. The article I linked shows that.

The only thing that actually changed in January was how it was priced.

They didn't. Hence the 20 or so gaming media outlets reporting it in January.

http://www.pcgamer.com/hitman-reboot-switches-to-fully-episodic-release-schedule/

PCGAMER wrote:

Today, however, developer IO Interactive announced that the plan has changed, and that Hitman will instead be a “truly episodic triple-A game experience, with a major live component.” Under the new scheme, the game will debut with a Prologue Mission and Paris location; the next location, Italy, will be released in April, followed by Morocco in May. The game will continue to expand after that with monthly and weekly content updates, until the season concludes with the release of Japan later this year.

More info below:

Release schedule:

March 11 – Prologue Mission and a Paris, France location.
April – Sapienza, Italy location.
May – Marrakesh, Morocco location.
Afterward – Monthly content updates, including three additional locations; Thailand, the US and Japan until the season concludes in Japan later in 2016. With weekly live events and additional planned content in between the monthly updates.
Pricing is as follows:

Intro Pack ($15) – Contains Prologue and Paris levels.
New Locations ($10) – Each new location will be released as a $10 add-on to the Intro Pack.
Upgrade Pack ($50) – Users who buy the Intro Pack can upgrade to the Full Experience through this package.
Full Experience ($60) – Includes all of this year’s content as it’s released, and guarantees them not to miss any live or bonus content.

This is messy as hell. Its easy to see that this is cash in transit robbery

tok9

I'm not arguing that their marketing campaign/tone changed.

If you look at how they talked about the game initially, how they showed it would be released initially and how it will release now, you can clearly see the game was always broken into episodes. Just go back through this thread and you can see that.

I'm actually much happier with this. If the game turns out great than I'm all in. If not than the feedback from the base release should lead to improvements by the time the game retails. And if the game is still rubbish after that, fine. That's their loss.

FAILSAFE 00

tok9 wrote: »

I'm not arguing that their marketing campaign/tone changed.

If you look at how they talked about the game initially, how they showed it would be released initially and how it will release now, you can clearly see the game was always broken into episodes. Just go back through this thread and you can see that.

I'm actually much happier with this. If the game turns out great than I'm all in. If not than the feedback from the base release should lead to improvements by the time the game retails. And if the game is still rubbish after that, fine. That's their loss.

I am sad that you are buying into this and can't see what is happening right in front of you.

In January Square Enix and Io Interactive released a statement.

IO wrote:

"We decided to take the full leap and publish Hitman as a truly episodic game experience," said Hannes Seifert, head of studio at Io Interactive, in a release. "Part of that decision is for that little bit of extra time to ensure every location we release is at the quality level fitting for a Hitman game

Its a AAA title that fell behind in development. Its not getting anymore refined. This is typical PR bull****. They are trying to get you to believe that there will be better content because they decided to make it episodic.

Finally the nail in the coffin comes from Sony. On that same week in January they canceled the pre-orders for PS4.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/1/14/10770628/hitman-dlc-fully-episodic

Polygon wrote:

Hitman was removed from the PlayStation Store in European territories and Square Enix canceled pre-orders for the PlayStation 4 version of the game. Sony said in a message to those who had their pre-orders canceled that the configuration of game had "changed significantly" with revised details to come.

So thats it really. A non episodic game that became one so they can rush the title out the door and start making a return on their investment. Not a creative process to make a game an amazing experience like true episodic games.

Falthyron

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

I am sad that you are buying into this and can't see what is happening right in front of you.

In January Square Enix and Io Interactive released a statement.



Its a AAA title that fell behind in development. Its not getting anymore refined. This is typical PR bull****. They are trying to get you to believe that there will be better content because they decided to make it episodic.

Finally the nail in the coffin comes from Sony. On that same week in January they canceled the pre-orders for PS4.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/1/14/10770628/hitman-dlc-fully-episodic



So thats it really. A non episodic game that became one so they can rush the title out the door and start making a return on their investment. Not a creative process to make a game an amazing experience like true episodic games.

One could argue that this business model gives Square Enix some scope to reduce costs if the first episode or two episodes are unsuccessful. They could end the game after the third episode, for example.

gizmo

Jesus, the amount of hyperbole being thrown around...

Look, back in October last year it was announced it would launch with six campaign missions based in three locations, France, Italy and Morocco. That would be followed up by three new sets of campaign missions set in Thailand, USA and Japan which were to be released in April, May and June.

The initial chunk would cost $34.99 with the post-launch "episodes" coming in at $29.99 cumulatively. Alternatively the full thing would cost you $59.99 up front.

They've now changed to a more traditional episode structure whereby it'll launch with just a Prologue mission and one set in Paris with each of the other campaign missions following as additional episodes. The pricing and contents of which are laid out in the post here. As you can see, the intro pack has been reduced in price to reflect the reduced amount of content within while, more importantly, the overall cost and content being delivered has remained the same.

It's quite unlikely to be indicative of IO falling behind in development because if that were the case, core game systems would be unfinished which would need to be shipped with the initial release.

FAILSAFE 00

gizmo wrote: »

Jesus, the amount of hyperbole being thrown around...

Look, back in October last year it was announced it would launch with six campaign missions based in three locations, France, Italy and Morocco. That would be followed up by three new sets of campaign missions set in Thailand, USA and Japan which were to be released in April, May and June.

The initial chunk would cost $34.99 with the post-launch "episodes" coming in at $29.99 cumulatively. Alternatively the full thing would cost you $59.99 up front.

They've now changed to a more traditional episode structure whereby it'll launch with just a Prologue mission and one set in Paris with each of the other campaign missions following as additional episodes. The pricing and contents of which are laid out in the post here. As you can see, the intro pack has been reduced in price to reflect the reduced amount of content within while, more importantly, the overall cost and content being delivered has remained the same.

It's quite unlikely to be indicative of IO falling behind in development because if that were the case, core game systems would be unfinished which would need to be shipped with the initial release.

Its most likely that the content is not finished hence the drip feeding gamers with a few missions here and there. It gives them time to get the game finished. A bit of breathing space to get the game completed.

Its hilarious how crazy this pre-launch has been. IO and Square are all over the place.

gizmo

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

Its most likely the content is not finished hence the drip feeding gamers with a few missions here and there. It gives them time to get the game finished. A bit of breathing space to get the game completed.

Its hilarious how crazy this pre-launch has been. IO and Square are all over the place.

Again, unlikely given the fact that there's only a month between releases. In that time the new content would have to be developed/finished, tested and put through platform cert for consoles, something that simply wouldn't be possible in said time frame.

It is, of course, impossible to know for sure but if I had to guess, I'd say they realised the original plan of offering half the locations at launch and the other remaining three as additional content wasn't the best idea (probably after some focus testing) so switched to the more traditional episodic structure of one new location as the primary content in each release backed up with the additional sandbox missions, signature kills and contracts missions. They could then rely on the weekly events to keep interest levels up between major content drops.

As an aside, outside of potential development woes on IO's side, this direction is most likely being entirely driven by Square Enix.

FAILSAFE 00

gizmo wrote: »

Again, unlikely given the fact that there's only a month between releases. In that time the new content would have to be developed/finished, tested and put through platform cert for consoles, something that simply wouldn't be possible in said time frame.

It is, of course, impossible to know for sure but if I had to guess, I'd say they realised the original plan of offering half the locations at launch and the other remaining three as additional content wasn't the best idea (probably after some focus testing) so switched to the more traditional episodic structure of one new location as the primary content in each release backed up with the additional sandbox missions, signature kills and contracts missions. They could then rely on the weekly events to keep interest levels up between major content drops.

As an aside, outside of potential development woes on IO's side, this direction is most likely being entirely driven by Square Enix.

The months add up. It buys them 3 months to start with. Then because the rest of the locations/missions are listed as coming later in 2016 this buys them an unknown number of months. Plenty of time for them to finish missions that they are behind on. Its not a case of creating them from scratch, its most likely that they are simply unfinished.

The game was already delayed until March and all the switching of their launch plans point towards a game that has fallen behind. Hardly a shock since it seems to be the norm these days.

Platform cert for consoles take 5-7 days for AAA publishers.

Generic Dreadhead

So don't buy it

I don't really buy into the chopping up of this series myself either.

I enjoyed Hitman Absolution but this has such a reek of the New Square Enix off it, I'm not impressed.

That's not to say it's not going to be widely accepted and enjoyed by many. Square Enix just really rub me up the wrong way at present

gizmo

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

The months add up. It buys them 3 months to start with. Then because the rest of the locations/missions are listed as coming later in 2016 this buys them an unknown number of months. Plenty of time for them to finish missions that they are behind on. Its not a case of creating them from scratch, its most likely that they are simply unfinished.

The game was already delayed until March and all the switching of their launch plans point towards a game that has fallen behind. Hardly a shock since it seems to be the norm these days.

Platform cert for consoles take 5-7 days for AAA publishers.

Quite possibly however we're still looking at approximately half the game to be completed in this time frame. Going by the original schedule, Paris, Italy and Morocco made up only six campaign missions. Going by previous iterations in the series, the older games featured around 12 missions each whereas Absolution featured 20, though I've not played it myself so can't attest to how they compare in terms of scale to the older titles. Either way it's still a lot of content to be completed if, in fact, it's in an unfinished state.

Cert wise, while it's possible to get through MS cert in a week, Sony can be twice that and again it depends on getting through cert first time which doesn't happen as often as you'd think. On top of that, you have the costs involved in going through each time. With them still sitting in the five figure range per platform (remember these are content updates, not patches), one would assume Square would prefer to submit the bulk of the new content in one pass rather than submitting them individually.

Anyway, to get back to the original point of the validity of the "fully episodic" comments. Upon examination of what they're actually delivering, it's pretty accurate all things considered. They've essentially gone from one larger initial release and three additional smaller episodes to six more equally sized episodes, all of which can still be acquired for the same price as before. Course it doesn't really change things that much if, like me, you're not a fan of any kind of episodic approach to the series, in terms of the campaign at least.

tok9

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

I am sad that you are buying into this and can't see what is happening right in front of you.

I'm sad that you need a PR statement to understand something that was obvious from E3.

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

In January Square Enix and Io Interactive released a statement.

Its a AAA title that fell behind in development. Its not getting anymore refined. This is typical PR bull****. They are trying to get you to believe that there will be better content because they decided to make it episodic.

I agree, just your standard PR statement. I genuinely wouldn't read into it.

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

Finally the nail in the coffin comes from Sony. On that same week in January they canceled the pre-orders for PS4.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/1/14/10770628/hitman-dlc-fully-episodic

Of course.. the price changed. I would expect uproar if they hadn't done this.

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

So thats it really. A non episodic game that became one so they can rush the title out the door and start making a return on their investment. Not a creative process to make a game an amazing experience like true episodic games.

There doesn't seem to be any getting through to you on this. What I find amazing is that you think they went from releasing a full game in December to having to delay the game until March so they could release an episodic game that comes out during the year.

Just think about that for a moment.

FAILSAFE 00

tok9 wrote: »

I'm sad that you need a PR statement to understand something that was obvious from E3.

Well, you know something that the entire gaming media industry did not know until January of this year. Thats truly amazing. Seriously, I have posted references from multiple articles and pointed to Ubisoft's own statements on the matter. It was meant to be a full game followed by DLC missions/locations in the following months. This is fact. I don't know why you keep ignoring simple facts.

tok9 wrote: »

There doesn't seem to be any getting through to you on this. What I find amazing is that you think they went from releasing a full game in December to having to delay the game until March so they could release an episodic game that comes out during the year ...

Just think about that for a moment.

You are drawing a conclusion I never made. Re-read my posts.
I stated that they have most likely fallen behind and in order to catch up they switched the game distribution to episodic so that they can drip feed a mission/location here and there to give them time to finish the game.

FAILSAFE 00 wrote:

Finally the nail in the coffin comes from Sony. On that same week in January they canceled the pre-orders for PS4.

http://www.polygon.com/2016/1/14/107...fully-episodic

tok9 wrote: »

Of course.. the price changed. I would expect uproar if they hadn't done this.

Sony pulled it from pre-order stating...

Sony wrote:

Thank you for pre-ordering Hitman. The publisher has notified us that the configuration of the product you pre-ordered has changed significantly.

A price change is not a significant change. This was in January following the IO and Square Enix announcement that Hitman was to become an episodic game.
Thats the facts. All the gaming media outlets reported on it. I have linked many in my previous posts.

They don't even specify when the last 3 locations will be launched. Just a vague "Later in 2016"

The full game wont be out until the end of the year. If that. I predict a delay with that release also.

tok9

This will be my final post on the matter. I have linked an article from gamespot dated 16th June 2015.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/hitman-release-date-announced-at-e3-2015/1100-6428225/

Hitman will be receiving new content after it releases in a manner similar to episodic games.... Square Enix says the game's storyline will "conclude in 2016" in this fashion.

The parts I previously put in bold are just as relevant now. The media knew then and I knew then.

Also a price change is significant.

gizmo

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

Well, you know something that the entire gaming media industry did not know until January of this year. Thats truly amazing. Seriously, I have posted references from multiple articles and pointed to Ubisoft's own statements on the matter. It was meant to be a full game followed by DLC missions/locations in the following months. This is fact. I don't know why you keep ignoring simple facts.

This is just blatently wrong, man. Look at the infographic from October, the initial six campaign missions are included in a pack called Intro Pack. Between the amount of content contained within and the name of this release, how on earth could you conclude it was the full game?

This is also relevant with the pre-order cancellation. If you'll note underneath the Intro Pack pricing it says "Available to pre-order digitally November 2015". This pack no longer exists with their new fully episodic release structure so there is no way pre-orders could have been maintained, hence their cancellation.

And just to drive the point home, read this entry on the Hitman website which was posted even earlier on July 9th last year.

What we release on March 11th is not the full game. It’s a sizeable chunk of it. Throughout 2016 we’ll release more locations and missions until the story arc is done and finished. All of that content is included in the $60 price.

We know that the specifics of exactly what is included on March 11th are very important to some of you. We’re finalizing those plans and look forward to sharing them with you. Stay tuned for more details on this.

Note, the original December 8th date was replaced by the March one after the follow-up post in September which also outlined the specifics mentioned above.

FAILSAFE 00

tok9 wrote: »

This will be my final post on the matter. I have linked an article from gamespot dated 16th June 2015.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/hitman-release-date-announced-at-e3-2015/1100-6428225/

Hitman will be receiving new content after it releases in a manner similar to episodic games.... Square Enix says the game's storyline will "conclude in 2016" in this fashion.

The parts I previously put in bold are just as relevant now. The media knew then and I knew then.

Ah, I can see your error. Its right there in front of you.

Gamespot wrote:

Hitman will be receiving new content after it releases...

After the full game releases then new content will come out for it. This is back in June 2015 when everyone thought it was a full game with additional content coming every month.

Gamespot wrote:

after it releases in a manner similar to episodic games.

Manner similar to is not saying Hitman the game itself will be episodic. The writer is simply stating that DLC content will be coming out after the game releases almost every month like an episodic game would. Its the writers opinion.

Now in January IO and Square release a statement saying that the entire game + DLC is to become episodic.

Here is the news following this statement around the 15th of January. I have included links and titles of these articles. Case closed.

Polygon wrote:

Hitman changes release structure again, now 'fully episodic'

http://www.polygon.com/2016/1/14/10770628/hitman-dlc-fully-episodic

Eurogamer wrote:

Hitman is now fully episodic

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2016-01-15-hitman-will-now-be-fully-episodic

VG247 wrote:

Hitman will now be released episodically with new pricing structure

https://www.vg247.com/2016/01/14/hitman-will-be-released-as-a-truly-episodic-aaa-game-experience/

Even gamespot that you quoted back in 2015 reported it.

Gamespot wrote:

Hitman Now a Proper Episodic Game

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/hitman-now-a-proper-episodic-game-collectors-editi/1100-6433830/

Kotaku wrote:

Square Enix has announced the new Hitman game is now episodic

http://kotaku.com/square-enix-has-announced-the-new-hitman-game-is-now-ep-1752988597

FAILSAFE 00

gizmo wrote: »

This is just blatently wrong, man. Look at the infographic from October, the initial six campaign missions are included in a pack called Intro Pack. Between the amount of content contained within and the name of this release, how on earth could you conclude it was the full game?

This is also relevant with the pre-order cancellation. If you'll note underneath the Intro Pack pricing it says "Available to pre-order digitally November 2015". This pack no longer exists with their new fully episodic release structure so there is no way pre-orders could have been maintained, hence their cancellation.

I am afraid not. Read the post above. No one knew the entire game was to be episodic. This was a last minute change by the publisher. Pricing and distribution changed completely for the game. They pulled the pre-order from Sony which is further evidence.

In June 2015 at E3 which is what Tok is referencing everyone expected a full game with additional content to roll out every now and then. It was never stated that the Hitman game would be fully episodic.

It was only announced in January that the game would be fully episodic.

gizmo wrote: »

And just to drive the point home, read this entry on the Hitman website which was posted even earlier on July 9th last year.

What we release on March 11th is not the full game. It’s a sizeable chunk of it. Throughout 2016 we’ll release more locations and missions until the story arc is done and finished. All of that content is included in the $60 price.

We know that the specifics of exactly what is included on March 11th are very important to some of you. We’re finalizing those plans and look forward to sharing them with you. Stay tuned for more details on this.

Quite a vague point with nothing what so ever that states that Hitman is to be a fully episodic game. Just that DLC will be rolled out throughout the year. Simliar to the way Ubisoft Awesome Studios are saying that The Division will not be a complete story on release. They will release more content in the form of DLC to conclude the story later. Does that make it episodic. no.

This is the reason this all became big news in January. Gaming media outlets, Youtubers, etc. Its all there to read and view.

gizmo

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

I am afraid not. Read the post above. No one knew the entire game was to be episodic. This was a last minute change by the publisher. Pricing and distribution changed completely for the game. They pulled the pre-order from Sony which is further evidence.

In June 2015 at E3 which is what Tok is referencing everyone expected a full game with additional content to roll out every now and then. It was never stated that the Hitman game would be fully episodic.

It was only announced in January that the game would be fully episodic.

I've updated my post above which covers this.

As for the "fully episodic" comment, I've already covered that in the last paragraph of my reply here.

gizmo

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

Quite a vague point with nothing what so ever that states that Hitman is to be a fully episodic game. Just that DLC will be rolled out throughout the year. Simliar to the way Ubisoft Awesome Studios are saying that The Division will not be a complete story on release. They will release more content in the form of DLC to conclude the story later. Does that make it episodic. no.

This is the reason this all became big news in January. Gaming media outlets, Youtubers, etc. Its all there to read and view.

So let me get this straight, in July 2015 they say...

What we release on March 11th is not the full game. It’s a sizeable chunk of it. Throughout 2016 we’ll release more locations and missions until the story arc is done and finished. All of that content is included in the $60 price.

And you're claiming that's a "vague point with nothing what so ever that states that Hitman is to be a fully episodic game". Like, what?

In terms of the content they're releasing, you realise the only difference between the old release plan and the new release plan is that the "Intro Pack" as outlined back in September is now split into three separate episodes? It's essentially gone from partially episodic to fully episodic.

FAILSAFE 00

gizmo wrote: »

So let me get this straight, in July 2015 they say...



And you're claiming that's a "vague point with nothing what so ever that states that Hitman is to be a fully episodic game". Like, what?

In terms of the content they're releasing, you realise the only difference between the old release plan and the new release plan is that the "Intro Pack" as outlined back in September is now split into three separate episodes? It's essentially gone from partially episodic to fully episodic.

Episodic is your interpretation of the release cycle prior to January 2016.

The developers never called it episodic until January 2016. When they announced the game is to be episodic. Why the whole change of plans and statement if it was always episodic??

Since when did a few DLC content drops become episodic anyway.

By your logic The Division is episodic. It's not releasing the full game at launch and it will expand and conclude the story through various DLC drops throughout the year.

The Walking Dead game. That's an episodic title. From inception to delivery.

gizmo

FAILSAFE 00 wrote: »

Episodic is your interpretation of the release cycle prior to January 2016.

The developers never called it episodic until January 2016. When they announced the game is to be episodic. Why the whole change of plans and statement if it was always episodic??

Since when did a few DLC content drops become episodic anyway.

By your logic The Division is episodic. It's not releasing the full game at launch and it will expand and conclude the story through various DLC drops throughout the year.

The Walking Dead game. That's an episodic title. From inception to delivery.

I can't comment on The Division comparison as I've avoided the story related information for while. To use The Walking Dead comparison though, when the release schedule for Hitman was first revealed back in late September it looked like the initial release contained the first three "episodes" while the final three "episodes" were coming separately. The argument about whether this or the final release schedule is "episodic" is entirely semantical and while I don't consider a few DLC drops episodic generally speaking, given both Hitman's release cycle and the contents of each pack, I think the term fits fairly well in this case.

What I guess confused matters more earlier in the thread is that you claimed the "episode BS is just to get more money" and that there would be no "full game", both of which are inaccurate since the final cost for all the planned contents hasn't changed and the story will conclude with the final release set in Japan. Hell, if anything, it's now cheaper to get a taste for how the game plays since the initial release is now $10 instead of the original $34.99.

Zero-Cool

Preview sounding good

http://www.gamesradar.com/new-hitman-confident-return-classic-form/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=grfb

Slight spoilers how how the guy killed the target a few different ways at the 1st mission, Paris fashion show. Might actually be worth the punt at 15 quid plus ps4 gets the 1st of 6 exclusive missions for the Sarajevo Six.

My biggest gripe about this is that I didn't enjoy Absolution, traded it in within a week. Thought I might have gone off stealth Games but I loved MGS V so I'm interested to see how this plays out. Plus the 15 quid gets you Contracts mode and Escalation mode (not sure what that is though)

bigphil2

I think this game will be more along the lines of Blood Money/Contracts. Sandbox Murder simulator style.. which is better than Absolution..

Dair76

bigphil2 wrote: »

I think this game will be more along the lines of Blood Money/Contracts. Sandbox Murder simulator style.. which is better than Absolution..

Exactly what I'm yearning for! The new delivery structure doesn't bother me personally, but I do worry the purported backlash might damage the series in the long term.

aaronjumper

Zero-Cool wrote: »

My biggest gripe about this is that I didn't enjoy Absolution, traded it in within a week. Thought I might have gone off stealth Games but I loved MGS V so I'm interested to see how this plays out. Plus the 15 quid gets you Contracts mode and Escalation mode (not sure what that is though)

You aren't alone I wasn't that into Absolution either. Out of the ones I have played I always think of Blood Money as the best.

bigphil2

Same here,i dont think people realise that it could change how we play games for the better, imagine getting new levels every couple of months for the lifetime of a game.. people give out about games not having any longevity but then complain when a company tries something new.. (See Also:People Complaining about the way H1Z1's launch has changed)

"They promised this..they said it was going to be this.." Things change in life get a ****ing helmet..

Pay the 15euro or dont.. just shut up about how its dissappointed you..No one cares!

Sorry..Rant over..

bigphil2

Same here,i dont think people realise that it could change how we play games for the better, imagine getting new levels every couple of months for the lifetime of a game.. people give out about games not having any longevity but then complain when a company tries something new.. (See Also:People Complaining about the way H1Z1's launch has changed)

"They promised this..they said it was going to be this.." Things change in life get a ****ing helmet..

Pay the 15euro or dont.. just shut up about how its dissappointed you..No one cares!

Sorry..Rant over..

angryIreGamer

bigphil2 wrote: »

"They promised this..they said it was going to be this.." Things change in life get a ****ing helmet..

Peter Molyneux syndrome never helps.

bigphil2

You have me there..

FAILSAFE 00

bigphil2 wrote: »

Same here,i dont think people realise that it could change how we play games for the better, imagine getting new levels every couple of months for the lifetime of a game..

I have to say this would be probably the worst thing that could happen to gamers since pre-ordering games came into existence

Game developers would love it. Very little risk involved. They make a bit of content for a month and if the game doesn't do well they abandon it and move on. Instead of working with it. Of course at that stage many gamers would have paid full price for the game rather than pay the monthly rate for content drops.

Also you could buy into a game that has a great opening month but then it turns out to be crap over the next few months. Reviewers can't help because they only get to review an episode at a time.

It's dangerous what Square Enix are doing. If it's successful for them other studios will follow.