A Mafia 4 announcement could be coming soon according to an insider on social media.

Early on Tuesday, insider on Twitter “Kurakasis” — a gaming source who has proven reputable in previous reports — mentioned that a few days ago, they heard that Take-Two Interactive was preparing to announce something “regarding the Mafia series.”

The report doesn’t mention exactly what that could be, or when an exact announcement may come, but notes that fans should expect something “soon.” Kurakasis also mentions that the last time they heard something like this was in regards to the upcoming Take-Two game Judas and there was a 3-4 weeks wait between announcements.

Mafia series hasn’t seen a new mainline game since 2016

The Mafia game series is one that’s been going strong for more than 20 years. The original game debuted in 2002 for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox and the mainline series of games has seen four titles released, the most recent being 2020’s Mafia: Definitive Edition, which was a remake of the original 2002 game.

As far as new titles go, there hasn’t been a new Mafia mainline game since 2016’s Mafia III, which released for the PlayStation 4 and XBox One. That game also saw three different DLC expansion packs released in 2017, which were the final batch of new content for the series as of now.

The Mafia series follows the stories of various characters who become entangled with the Mafia and usually must either rise through the ranks of the group or try and take them down.

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Hangar 13 hasn’t officially announced any details for Mafia 4 but it seems like they may be preparing to add multiplayer and live service features to the game. The developer is recruiting for various roles within the development team and those job descriptions hint the game may not entirely be a single-player experience.

Is a multiplayer Mafia 4 game in development?

The job listing for a Senior Systems Designer at Brighton, the location for the development of the next Mafia game, asks for a person with AAA game development experience and the company would prefer someone with “multiplayer games and/or live game design experience.” The role also requires knowledge of economy systems and design, hinting more towards a potential live-service system rather than co-op or competitive multiplayer.

Those hoping to get a single-player experience needn’t lose all hope, though. Unlike other job listings spotted by Reddit, this one doesn’t actually mention the Mafia franchise. This opening may even be for the rumored revival of the Top Spin franchise or another game altogether.

Other job listings do mention “the next iteration of the Mafia franchise” as well as the delivery of “engaging Stealth and Combat gameplay loops”, suggesting a similar combat system to that seen in Mafia 3. Little else is known about the game, although previous rumors have speculated it will be a prequel to Mafia that’s set in Sicily and will focus on the family of Don Salieri. Either way, the game is likely to be a few years away from release.

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A new job listing for developer Hangar 13 hints that Mafia 5 could be in early production. The description of the job post on LinkedIn hints to a prior report from Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier that the developer hopes to greenlight a sequel to Mafia 4 while it is being made.

Early Mafia 5 production would be to avoid mistakes Hangar 13 made in the past

Hangar 13 is currently looking to fill the position of an Executive Producer at its Brighton, England studio. The producer would be responsible for “a key franchise” and “play a vital part in the successful delivery of a major new title, including post-launch content and future franchise planning.”

The game is still unannounced, so it’s possible that it doesn’t have anything to do with the Mafia franchise. That said, Schreier reported in May 2022 that Nick Baynes, the president of Hangar 13, was “aiming to green-light a sequel to Nero while it is development,” with (Project) Nero being the codename for the next Mafia game. This is so that its team can remain intact once Mafia 4 is finished, instead of being awkwardly displaced when the game is done — a mistake that Hangar 13 had made in the past.

From what we know so far about Mafia 4 (or whatever the next Mafia game will be called), it is reportedly a prequel set in Sicily in the late 19th to early 20th century and will follow the Don Salieri Family. As reported last year, the release date is still “a few years away,” meaning we could see it arrive in 2024 or 2025.

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Developer Hanger 13 has revealed that the next Mafia game will be “a few years away” in an interview. This means the release date could be in 2024 if we’re being optimistic, though 2025 is a more realistic projection. This new info comes at the end of a developer interview celebrating the 20-year history of the Mafia franchise. Three Hanger 13 veterans — General Manager Roman Hladík, Head of Production and Media Director Tomáš Hřebíček, and Game Director Alex Cox — shared their thoughts on the series.

What we know so far on the next Mafia game

Responding to what will come next for the Mafia franchise, Hladík was eager to share news on their upcoming project in the interview:

I’m happy to confirm we’ve started work on an all-new Mafia project! While it’s a few years away and we can’t share anything more right now, we’re really excited to keep working on this beloved franchise and to entertain our players with new stories.

The latest rumors say that Hangar 13 is apparently working on two new Mafia games, with one being a Mafia prequel set in Sicily in the late 19th-century, early 20-century and the second being a sequel to this prequel. That said, this second game as reported in late May was not greenlit by 2K at the time.

As rumored by prominent leaker Nick Shpeshal on the XboxEra podcast, the prequel has been codenamed Nero and will feature the Don Salieri family. Like the first two Mafia games, it will focus on linear storytelling, and given what we know of Don Salieri in the series, we’ll likely see this prequel reveal his origin story. While the Mafia 3 engine has been used to remaster the Definition Editions for Mafia 1 and 2, the game will reportedly use a more updated engine.

Hanger 13 is also allegedly working on a Top Spin revival codenamed “Hammer” that will hopefully bring tennis back to the forefront in the sports genre. Other tennis franchises like AO Tennis, Tennis World Tour, and Matchpoint have attempted to fill the gap, but none of them have high average scores from fans or critics.

In other news, the release dates for PS5 firmware update 6.00 and 7.00 have been reportedly revealed, and revised, lighter PS5 models are reportedly being rolled out.

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Hangar 13 seems to be going through some tough and strange times simultaneously. Amid a number of departures and another round of layoffs, the studio is reportedly planning two Mafia games and a Top Spin revival. We heard about a Mafia prequel in development recently, but a new report by Bloomberg (partially corroborated by Kotaku) claims that a new Top Spin game is in the works as well, and studio president Nick Baynes is attempting to have a sequel to the Mafia prequel (we’re not kidding) greenlit by 2K.

Why Hangar 13 is eyeing two Mafia games

Baynes, who replaced Hangar 13’s founder Hayden Blackman, recently held a meeting with staff to inform them of the layoffs. According to Bloomberg, he revealed during the meeting that he’s trying to get a sequel to Nero (code name for the new Mafia game) greenlit while Nero is still in development in order to avoid a scenario where workers are displaced after a project is finished or dropped. Bloomberg’s report said that a tennis game code named “Hammer” is also in development at Hangar 13, but Kotaku and insider Nick “Nick_Shpeshal” Baker name dropped Top Spin. In fact, Baker was the first one to reveal that a new Top Spin game is in development in one of his videos earlier this month, but his claim was overshadowed by the Mafia leak.

2K released the following statement to Kotaku and Bloomberg:

2K is fully committed to the future of Hangar 13 as the studio navigates a challenging but ultimately promising transition period. As part of our ongoing evaluations to ensure our resources are aligned with our goals, we have made some changes that have resulted in a reduction of positions and parting ways with some colleagues. These decisions are always difficult. We are doing all we can to work with the impacted employees to find them new roles on other projects and teams at 2K, and are providing full support to those who cannot be redeployed, connecting them with industry networks and resources to find new opportunities outside of 2K.

In other news, rumor has it that a Killzone VR game was once in development at Supermassive Games, and a State of Play is coming June 2nd.

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Prominent leaker Nick Shpeshal shared a fresh rumor about the new Mafia game in development at Hangar 13 during the XboxEra podcast. Talking in the show’s ‘rumor mill’ section, Nick said that the upcoming game might be set in Sicily. The leaker also said he had heard that the fourth mainline game in the franchise would focus on the family of Don Salieri.

New Mafia game is reportedly a prequel

The next Mafia game will reportedly be set in the late 19th, early 20th century — aligning with rumors from Kotaku that the game is a prequel to Mafia 1. As for gameplay, the next Mafia will reportedly focus on more linear story-telling, much like the first two games in the franchise.

In recent times, there has been a lot of change at Hangar 13 — the developers behind the Mafia franchise. After the departures of studio head Haden Blackman and chief operating officer Matthew Urban, uncertainty possibly awaits. However, according to a recent report by Kotaku, Hangar 13’s Brighton, UK studio is leading the development of this next Mafia game.

Fans hoping to get hold of the next installment soon will be disappointed, with the game reportedly early in development, as per the same report. The game is apparently code-named Nero and is expected to run on Unreal Engine 5. Hangar 13 will reportedly ditch the Mafia 3 engine, recently used for the remasters of the original games.

In previous Mafia games, Don Salieri headed up The Salieri Crime Family. This was formed after the death of Don Peppone, with both families having a previous alliance.

In other news, Remedy Entertainment revealed in its latest financial report that Alan Wake Remastered has yet to make a profit. Sony has compiled the ultimate gaming dictionary in a hilarious read! Meanwhile, speculation around a summer PlayStation showcase continues.

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A brand new Mafia game is believed to be in the early stages of development at Hangar 13. The team seems to finally be working on their own unannounced project following stints helping Gearbox with Borderlands: The Handsome Collection and Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. However, leadership changes may yet throw a spanner in the works if the rumor Mafia 4 is in development is true.

What we know about Mafia 4

The new Mafia game, tentatively titled Nero, is in the very early stages of development and is intended to be a prequel to the Mafia trilogy. The game is reported to be in the hands of Hangar 13’s Brighton studio according to Kotaku, and will be built using Unreal Engine 5 rather than the Illusion engine that ran Mafia III. The game is a sign the developer is moving away from original projects and back to less risky established franchises. Three original IPs — Rhapsody, Volt, and Mosaic — were all reportedly canceled before they’d even been revealed, causing two rounds of layoffs to take place at the studio.

This doesn’t mean personnel remains unchanged. In an e-mail sent to studio employees and copied to outlets like IGN, Hangar 13 studio head Haden Blackman is stepping down after seven years at the company. Blackman is moving on to an unknown company to “pursue his passion at a new endeavor”. He will be replaced by the current studio head at Hangar 13’s Brighton studio, Nick Baynes. Parent company 2K said:

I hope you’ll join me in thanking Haden and wishing him the best, and congratulating Nick on a well-deserved promotion. While change can be challenging, it can also breed new opportunities and success. We are confident the studio is in great hands heading into the multiple projects currently under way, and the team has 2K’s full support.

In other news, Activision has blamed poor sales of Call of Duty: Vanguard on the game’s World War II setting. Elsewhere, Gunzilla Games and Neill Blomkamp have announced a brand new AAA Battle Royale game called Off The Grid.

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Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two Interactive has said that it doesn’t simply port games over to new platforms under the guise of remasters. Speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference (transcript via Video Games Chronicle), CEO Strauss Zelnick said that part of the reason Take-Two’s remasters “do so well” is that its studios do their “very best job” to ensure that the new releases look and feel different.

“We’ve done differently than the competition – we don’t just port titles over, we actually take the time to do the very best job we can making the title different for the new release, for the new technology that we’re launching it on,” said Zelnick. “So, we improve the technology, we upgrade the visuals, and we make performance enhancements. And that’s why I think our remastered titles typically do so well.”

Take-Two previously revealed that the recent Mafia remasters performed well, and Zelnick reiterated that the publisher did a “great” job with the crime series. He’s confident that Grand Theft Auto V‘s PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions will perform according to expectations despite the upcoming title being GTA V‘s third generation.

“It was a standard-bearer when it was launched, it continued to be the standard-bearer in the second generation, we’ll see how Grand Theft Auto does in the next generation,” Zelnick continued. “Obviously, I’m confident that Rockstar is going to deliver just a great experience, but you can’t do that if you’re just doing a simple port.”

Zelnick previously declined to comment on the possibility of Rockstar Games remastering older GTA games.

[Source: VGC]

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Back in 2018, Mafia developer Hangar 13 founded a new studio in Brighton, UK. The studio was primarily tasked with developing an open-world game based on a “key new IP franchise“. At the time, little else was known about the game, but current job listings for the studio, as spotted by Twitter user @MauroNL3, have dropped out a few more details.

Multiple job listings describe the game as a “cutting-edge AAA title”. Hangar 13’s VP of Development, Andy Wilson, had previously said the game would be “incredibly unique”, something that ” is going to appeal to a hell of a lot of people”, and will “not necessarily be in the same genre [as Mafia III]”. A current job listing for a Senior Writer seems to hint towards a fantasy or sci-fi setting instead:

You love stories. You love consuming them, you love creating them, and you love dissecting them. An appreciation for multiple genres (not just fantasy and sci-fi) is preferred.

The hint is backed up by a leaked contract from the UK studio, which was initially posted on Reddit but later removed for legal reasons. This suggested the third-person title is sci-fi themed with supernatural elements, and is set in a vast open world.

The title will also have an online component with a suite of online features. The listing for a Lead Online Designer states:

Ultimately, you will […] be responsible for leading the overall design effort for our online features; to include defining matchmaking requirements and algorithms, holding the vision for major online features such as guilds or live events, working with the systems team to ensure online play tuning and balance, and collaborating with art and design leads to put together future content roadmaps.

The team will also be designing a new “competitive in-house game engine” for the title, according to a listing for an Associate Systems Engineer. Many of the other listings involve working with the studio’s existing software technology as well as being involved in building new technology to cope with the game’s requirements.

This new title is one of three projects Hangar 13 has in the works right now. Whether one of those is a new Mafia title is highly dependent on whether Mafia: Definitive Edition has been successful. If the game had received a decent reception the team would have been able to invest their energy in a new instalment.

[Source: @MauroNL3 on Twitter]

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Hangar 13 has released the first post-launch update for Mafia: Definitive Edition, complete with a Noir mode, new Free Ride content, and custom HUD options alongside the usual bug fixes.

Patch notes are as follows:

New Content

• Custom HUD Options – Use these new options to customize the in-game HUD if, for example, you want to make your explorations of Lost Heaven feel less guided or take a particularly pleasing screenshot:
  • Switch the in-world main objective marker on/off.
  • Switch mini-map enemy markers on/off on all difficulty settings. (Previously enemy markers were always on outside of Classic Mode.)
  • Switch navigation features like turn-by-turn instructions and the mini-map GPS on/off.
  • Enable the new Minimal HUD mode to hide HUD elements including the mini-map, the speedometer, and objective text while playing.
• Noir Mode – Enable Noir Mode to enjoy Mafia: Definitive Edition‘s gameplay and cinematics with a vintage black-and-white look. Noir Mode can be toggled on and off via the game options screen.
• Free Ride Content – Now that you’re off to the races and enjoying Free Ride mode, depending on which vehicle you’re driving and where you’re driving it, you might find one of a couple new gameplay features that we’ve added to the mode. We’ll leave the specifics for you to discover and hope you fare well in Lost Heaven.

Bug Fixes

• Addressed a reported issue that sometimes prevented the correct vehicles from unlocking in the player garage upon completion of the optional Lucas Bertone missions. Players who have completed these missions should find the correct vehicles in their garage the next time they start the game.
• Addressed a reported concern that a special assassination animation sometimes wasn’t triggering correctly during the mission “The Saint and The Sinner.”
• Addressed a reported concern that certain cinematics would occasionally show a black screen.

The update is live across all platforms.

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