The Hitman beta will be available for all PlayStation Plus users to download and play next week, Square Enix & Sony has announced. Previously, the beta was only available to those who had pre-ordered a copy of the game.
From Friday, March 4, anyone with a PlayStation Plus membership will be to access the Hitman beta which wil grant players access to the game’s prologue. The reason for the beta being opened up to those who haven’t pre-ordered the game is to allow more players in so that the servers can be stress tested ahead of the first episode’s release on March 11. However only PS4 players will get the chance to take part with the beta not being scheduled to come to Xbox One or PC for those who have not pre-ordered the game.
“Our initial beta was an extremely helpful moment for our new HITMAN game, as it gave us great insight into how the server game mechanics function under pressure,” said IO Interactive studio head Hanne Seifert. “A lot of those pressure points are currently being strengthened for release.
“Now Sony have given us the opportunity to go even bigger to validate some of the initial things we saw. Therefore we are inviting everyone who is a PlayStation Plus member to try the same beta and you don’t have to pre-order the game. This will allow us to really stress test our server setup, which is a crucial element for us to get just right.”
Square Enix also released a CGI trailer for Hitman showing off some of the locations from previous titles in the series as the trailer looks to take players on a “a journey through some iconic Hitman moments”.
The first episode for Hitman releases on PC, Xbox One and PC on March 11.