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A Mafia prequel is reportedly in early developmentAs studio heads depart

As studio heads depart

Hangar 13 studio head Haden Blackman has departed from the company. In an announcement made internally earlier this week and shared with several media outlets, owners 2K Games said that Haden was “leaving the company to pursue his passion at a new endeavor.” Meanwhile, anonymous sourcestalking to Kotakusay that a Mafia prequel is in early development.Nick Baynes, studio head of Hangar 13’s Brighton office will taken over Blackman’s role at the head of the company. “With 30 years of industry leadership experience, Nick joined Hangar 13 in 2018 to establish Hangar 13 Brighton, and has spent the last four years growing the team, building up the studio’s capabilities, and launching terrific projects likeMafia: Definitive Editionand the Mafia Trilogy,” says the announcement.Mafia: Definitive Edition - Official Gameplay RevealWatch on YouTubeAlthough the announcement doesn’t mention it, it looks like Blackman wasn’t the only departure, with chief operating officer Matthew Urban also leaving the company according to a post on LinkedIn.According to Kotaku’s sources, the new Mafia game will use Unreal Engine 5 rather than theMafia 3engine used for that game and the recent remasters. The switch would continue a trend of developers moving from in-house engines to Unreal, including the nextThe Witcher gameandTomb Raider game.There’s seemingly never been a calm moment for Hangar 13. Several of the company’s creative leads left after the launch of Mafia 3, which shipped withbugs and other issues. The studio then hadmassive layoffs in 2018. Last year, 2K Games reportedlyshut down an unannounced superhero game under development at the studio, in which they’d invested $53 million.Mafia 1 was one of my favourite games, once upon a time. I don’t know if I have a huge appetite to go back to the series, but I do want more people to make city-set open world games around the margins of what Rockstar do. Hopefully Hangar 13 make something interesting.

Hangar 13 studio head Haden Blackman has departed from the company. In an announcement made internally earlier this week and shared with several media outlets, owners 2K Games said that Haden was “leaving the company to pursue his passion at a new endeavor.” Meanwhile, anonymous sourcestalking to Kotakusay that a Mafia prequel is in early development.Nick Baynes, studio head of Hangar 13’s Brighton office will taken over Blackman’s role at the head of the company. “With 30 years of industry leadership experience, Nick joined Hangar 13 in 2018 to establish Hangar 13 Brighton, and has spent the last four years growing the team, building up the studio’s capabilities, and launching terrific projects likeMafia: Definitive Editionand the Mafia Trilogy,” says the announcement.Mafia: Definitive Edition - Official Gameplay RevealWatch on YouTubeAlthough the announcement doesn’t mention it, it looks like Blackman wasn’t the only departure, with chief operating officer Matthew Urban also leaving the company according to a post on LinkedIn.According to Kotaku’s sources, the new Mafia game will use Unreal Engine 5 rather than theMafia 3engine used for that game and the recent remasters. The switch would continue a trend of developers moving from in-house engines to Unreal, including the nextThe Witcher gameandTomb Raider game.There’s seemingly never been a calm moment for Hangar 13. Several of the company’s creative leads left after the launch of Mafia 3, which shipped withbugs and other issues. The studio then hadmassive layoffs in 2018. Last year, 2K Games reportedlyshut down an unannounced superhero game under development at the studio, in which they’d invested $53 million.Mafia 1 was one of my favourite games, once upon a time. I don’t know if I have a huge appetite to go back to the series, but I do want more people to make city-set open world games around the margins of what Rockstar do. Hopefully Hangar 13 make something interesting.

Hangar 13 studio head Haden Blackman has departed from the company. In an announcement made internally earlier this week and shared with several media outlets, owners 2K Games said that Haden was “leaving the company to pursue his passion at a new endeavor.” Meanwhile, anonymous sourcestalking to Kotakusay that a Mafia prequel is in early development.

Nick Baynes, studio head of Hangar 13’s Brighton office will taken over Blackman’s role at the head of the company. “With 30 years of industry leadership experience, Nick joined Hangar 13 in 2018 to establish Hangar 13 Brighton, and has spent the last four years growing the team, building up the studio’s capabilities, and launching terrific projects likeMafia: Definitive Editionand the Mafia Trilogy,” says the announcement.

Mafia: Definitive Edition - Official Gameplay RevealWatch on YouTube

Mafia: Definitive Edition - Official Gameplay Reveal

Cover image for YouTube video

Although the announcement doesn’t mention it, it looks like Blackman wasn’t the only departure, with chief operating officer Matthew Urban also leaving the company according to a post on LinkedIn.

According to Kotaku’s sources, the new Mafia game will use Unreal Engine 5 rather than theMafia 3engine used for that game and the recent remasters. The switch would continue a trend of developers moving from in-house engines to Unreal, including the nextThe Witcher gameandTomb Raider game.

There’s seemingly never been a calm moment for Hangar 13. Several of the company’s creative leads left after the launch of Mafia 3, which shipped withbugs and other issues. The studio then hadmassive layoffs in 2018. Last year, 2K Games reportedlyshut down an unannounced superhero game under development at the studio, in which they’d invested $53 million.

Mafia 1 was one of my favourite games, once upon a time. I don’t know if I have a huge appetite to go back to the series, but I do want more people to make city-set open world games around the margins of what Rockstar do. Hopefully Hangar 13 make something interesting.