New Mafia Game Confirmed To Be In Development

Mafia developer Hangar 13 recently conducted an in-house interview with some of the series’ long-serving developers to commemorate Mafia’s 20th anniversary. It’s an interesting read and there is some good insight that Mafia fans will enjoy, but it’s the end of the interview that will find itself widely quoted as General Manager Roman Hladík signs off with the confirmation that the studio is currently working on a new game in the Mafia franchise.

Hladík: 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.

According to the interview, Hangar 13 started as a very small team of 4-5 developers, and later it grew to 20-25 people when by the time the studio finished working on the first game. The directorial team had art and graphics experience, so they invested a lot into bringing film-grade cinematography to the game, but over the years they learned that the game itself is more important. Their experience was evident in the remake, when they elevated the character of Sarah, the only female character in the original game, and made her more than just a passing thought in the story.

Without a direct mention of Mafia 4 during the discussion, it seems that the new Mafia might not be a direct sequel to Mafia 3. Another leak from ‘Shpeshal Nick’ – a well-known XboxEra insider – suggests that Mafia 4 could be a prequel to the first game, and that’s why Hangar 13 put much so much effort into the Definitive Edition remake.

The new Mafia game is still a few years away according to the interview, and it’s not surprising to hear after the studio suffered a series of internal issues and scrapped projects over the last few years. However, a direct, official confirmation should give fans confidence that the series will continue. It’s just going to take a while.

The Mafia series has recently found a home on modern consoles through a Definitive Edition remake of the first game, a remastered version of Mafia 2, and Mafia 3 being bundled with all of its previous expansions. Publisher 2K has also announced that players can grab the original Mafia (not the remake, sadly) for free on Steam from September 1st through to September 5th.