Today it has been revealed that Haden Blackman, head of Hangar 13, the studio responsible for the Mafia series, has left his position and the company. Alongside this, it is also mentioned that Matthew Urban, director of operations at Hangar 13, has decided to leave the company. These two outputs are released along with a report that indicates that a new game of Mafia is already in development.
According to Kotaku, Hangar 13 employees received an email revealing Blackman’s departure. In his place, Nick Baynes, currently Head of Studio at the Hangar 13 office in Brighton, UK. This is not everything. The report also mentions that this same team will be in charge of the new Mafia game.which would be a prequel to the original trilogy, and Unreal Engine 5 would be the engine of choice for this project, thus abandoning the tools they used to create the most recent installment in the series.
This was what was commented on the departure of Blackman:
“We are grateful for Haden’s leadership in establishing Hangar 13, building and uniting teams in Novato, Brighton and Czech, and launching multiple Mafia games and collections that define the studio. What Haden helped build will continue and grow for years to come. We support all of our employees in pursuing his passions, and we wish only the best for him in what lies ahead.”
Hangar 13 has faced quite a difficult period in recent years. Not only Mafia III was delayed twice, moving its release date from 2017 to 2019, but the ideas that the study had in mind simply did not come true. Of these, an online class-based cooperative action game, similar to destiny 2. Codenamed Volt, the title was quietly canceled by parent company Take-Two last year, even after already spending $53 million on development.
Since then, Take-Two has used Hangar 13 to help with their other games, such as Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands from Gearbox. Sadly, it looks like the situation at the studio may get worse, as Kotaku’s report also mentions that more Hangar 13 employees are looking for a way to leave this company.
For its part, Hagar 13 and Take-Two did not issue a statement when asked about the new Mafia game in development. With the Summer Game Fest a month away, it is likely that during this event we will see the next project of this study, which, hopefully, will have a better development than the latest works of the company.
In related topics, here you can check our gameplay of Mafia: Definitive Edition.
Editor’s note:
Hangar 13 is more than just Mafia, and it’s a shame the studio’s other projects were cancelled. However, considering this studio joins a growing list of teams using Unreal Engine 5, there’s a chance the new game will give them the confidence to go beyond what we already know.
Via: Kotaku
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