Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 launches today - but without its planned multiplayer portion.
Developer CI Games has previously spoken about the game's multiplayer - several maps for it are included in the game's season pass. But play the game today and you'll find it's not included.
Instead, multiplayer modes will be released via an update at some point in the future.
CI Games only announced this today - the day the game goes on sale, and the day its review embargo lifts. Its reasoning? So as to "not to dilute any potential" from the main campaign.
"CI Games, throughout our development of Sniper Ghost Warrior 3, we have had two focus [sic]," a statement from the studio passed to Eurogamer reads.
"The first is to provide the best possible single player experience in our most ambitious game in the Sniper Ghost Warrior series to date. This has always been our goal and we are extremely proud of all the work we have done, and that we share with you. The second emphasis from us is to provide regular content updates post launch, focusing on content that enhances the gaming experience.
"Therefore, we have chosen to release the multiplayer update (that will be free for our players) after launch (the third quarter of 2017) for precisely the above reasons, that is not to dilute any potential from the single player experience."
It's not a great look for a game which has already had its release date delayed again and again.
Ian has been playing the game and has already found a number of issues, including five-minute level loading times, and enemies which disappear if you go too far away - a big issue for a sniping game:
Eurogamer's Sniper Ghost Warrior 3 review is now live.
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