IO doesn't want to refer to Hitman as an Early Access title in case some fans incorrectly assume the game is "unpolished and buggy", studio head Hannes Seifert has told VideoGamer.com.

The game is set to launch with a limited amount of content this December, with additional mission content set to roll out in waves throughout 2016.

But according to Seifert, "everything we launch will be finished, polished and completed. When people hear Early Access they often think unfinished, unpolished and buggy. That's the opposite [to what we're doing].

"So as I don't mind the actual word, I mind the associations that many people have with that, and we think that could drive people in the wrong mindset because that's not what we're going to do. It's going to be extremely polished."

Some fans have previously compared Hitman's launch plans to Codemasters' DiRT Rally, a similarly well-polished experience that launched on Steam Early Access earlier this year and that will be expanded upon with additional content throughout 2015.

Seifert, however, says that he hasn't played Codemasters' title so "can't refer to that".