As a trial, difficulty has been changed from a subcategory to a variable. This effectively merges the pro and master category extension runs onto one leaderboard.

The difficulty is still indicated on the leaderboard, and if you wish to submit both a professional and master run, both runs will show up.

The reasoning behind this change: There simply is not as much interest in master difficulty category extensions to really justify existence as a separate category.

With the exception of master/ default loadout, which is relatively popular. However, merging the leaderboard will help the master/ default loadout runs in most cases, as the master/ default runs have become more optimized than the pro/ default loadout runs in several levels.

If the change proves unpopular, it is easy to revert.

There are currently no plans to apply this difficulty merge to the main leaderboard (https://www.speedrun.com/hitman_3), as there is a higher level of interest in playing Master there.