Mafia III Developer Hanger 13 Hit By Layoffs

Mafia III was a major commercial success in 2016, at a time when a lot of sequels were struggling to make an impact, and that makes it surprising to hear that Hangar 13 have now seen staff reductions that are reportedly a significant proportion of the team.

The timing is also unusual, as you would typically expect a studio to shrink after the release of a game before building up again to head into full production on the next project. For major layoffs to occur over a year later is unusual, though the team did release a few DLC expansions for the season pass, and ties into what Kotaku’s sources have told them, that Hangar 13 spent the last year prototyping ideas to find its next project. One idea was a third-person action game where your actions create noise and make songs.

2K responded to Kotaku’s request saying, “2K can confirm that there have been staff reductions at Hangar 13 in order to ensure that the studio’s resources are properly aligned with its long-term development plans. These reductions will not influence 2K’s ability to create and deliver its products that are currently in development. We never take these matters lightly, and are working with the affected employees to support them and explore potential opportunities throughout our organization.”

With the staff scaling back, the studio is still alive, but it’s indicative that they’re yet to find what they want their next game to be and got 2K to sign off on it.

As always, we’d like to wish all of those now out of work the best of luck in finding new jobs elsewhere within the industry.

Source: Kotaku

 

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1 Comment

  1. This is such a shame as for a first game from the studio Mafia 3 was a lot of fun. It had issues for sure but the story was intriguing and well told and the gameplay was fun.
    It was just the mid game grind in-between those important missions that got to be a little too repetitive.
    I also like how they revamped the series with its very different perspective when compared to the first two games.
    I would have looked forward to see their next game.
    Hopefully we still will.

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