Two big pieces of news regarding Mafia and its developers Hanger 13. First of all, it has been announced that a new Mafia game is in development. It will be a prequel to the original Mafia trilogy. This gives speculation to if this new game could be set pre prohibition era like the first game. We do however know that Hanger 13 have switched engine from their very own Mafia 3 engine to Unreal Engine 5, meaning this game is still in very early development.
The second bit of news is that founder and studio head Haden Blackman left after being with Hanger 13 for 7 years. Haden went on to explain he was going off to pursue his own projects. 2K released an email stating: “We are grateful for Haden’s leadership in establishing Hangar 13, building and uniting teams in Novato, Brighton and Czech, and releasing multiple studio-defining Mafia games and collections”. They followed up with what Haden helped build will continue to carry forward and grow for years to come. “We support all of our employees pursuing their passions, and we wish nothing but the best for him in what’s next.”
Hanger 13 has been in a rough spot since Mafia 3 was released to mixed reviews. Any and all other projects were shot down and never saw the light of day. One was the spy game Rhapsody which had mechanics revolving around music cues. Another was a class-based co-op action game in the vein of Destiny 2. Codenamed Volt, it cost $53 Million before getting the plug pulled. But, they also released the remasters of all the previous Mafia games to good success. It’ll be fun to see where the new team takes the Mafia series from here on out.
Did you ever play the original Mafia games? Or get to play them remastered? Tell us how you’d feel about a brand new game in the series, or your thoughts on Hanger 13 and their previous works in the comments. Don’t forget to join our Discord for more news and discussion!
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