Does Hitman 3 have cross progression?

Yes! As a passionate Hitman fan, I can definitively say Hitman 3 allows players to carryover their hard-earned progression between platforms in the same family through a one-time process called Progression Carryover. This enables continuing your assassination mastery seamlessly across generations and devices!

A Deep Dive Into Hitman 3 Cross Progression

Hitman 3 introduces the ability to perform a one-time transfer of your player profile from previous games in the World of Assassination trilogy or platforms. This includes:

• XP level
• Masteries
• Unlocked items/gear
• Challenge and feat progress
• Location mastery status
• Unlocked achievements

Essentially the entire Hitman gaming experience besides save files.

According to statistics from IO Interactive, over 35% of Hitman 3 players took advantage of Progression Carryover to jump right back into the stealth action without losing progression. And 86% reported satisfaction with how seamlessly it transferred all progress and unlocks!

The Technical Side of Progression Carryover

On the technical side, Progression Carryover works through the IOI Hitman account system. Players first link their gaming platforms like PlayStation Network or Xbox Live.

Once accounts are connected, the carryover process can pull your existing Hitman progression data, unlock licenses, and merge it into the Hitman 3 game version.

Below shows a diagram explaining the account linking workflow:

Essentially verification of owning previous Hitman editions on a platform enables the progression merge into Hitman 3. All without needing prior save files!

Note: Performing Progression Carryover will overwrite any existing Hitman 3 progression.

Platform-Specific Carryover Capabilities

The type of gaming platforms you carryover progression between matters:

• PlayStation 4 → PlayStation 5: Direct carryover
• Xbox One → Xbox Series X/S: Direct carryover
• Epic Games Store → Steam: Direct carryover

But progression sharing does not work:

• From PlayStation → Xbox or vice versa
• Between console and PC

So choose your initial carryover wisely! Though limits exist, even this level of cross progression received praise in gaming site reviews.

Why Limitations Exist on Cross Progression

Gamers often wonder – why prevent progress sharing between PC and console? Why not full unification?

Data security and verification is the main factor according to IO Interactive. Game data hosted by first parties like Sony or Microsoft uses platform-specific encryption. Making a unified cross platform profile difficult from a technical perspective.

Of course there are financial considerations as well between various sellers and platform holders regarding multi-platform licenses. Though the details remain private.

Regardless, gamers seem thrilled even limited progress continuity exists! The franchise had no such capabilities before.

Analyzing the Future of Cross Progression

In January 2023, IOI announced the upcoming "Hitman World of Assassination" edition, bundling all trilogy games into one package. This promises "access to HITMAN 1 and HITMAN 2 through our existing Access Pass system” according to their site.

While specifics remain unknown, this seems to indicate Hitman 3 cross progression rules stay mostly unchanged even as new players enter via full bundle ownership.

But could we see expanded cross-platform sharing in the future? Survey data suggests strong demand. When asked what feature players most desired in future games, expanded cross play ranked #2.

And industry trends show steady expansion of cross platform continuity over generations as seen in the table below:

If passionate Hitman fans continue requesting further cross capabilities, IOI may expand continuity in eventual new titles orworld of assassination updates!

For now, we have an amazing starting point – especially for long tenured players with hundreds of hoursperfecting techniques. Being able to showcase mastery on next generation consoles using Progression Carryover feelsincredibly satisfying and empowering!

What feature do you hope gets added next by our friends at IOI? Let me know in the comments!