Following the news that Haden Blackman, studio head and founder of Mafia 3’s developer Hangar 13, is stepping down from the role after seven years, a new report has claimed a fourth instalment in the Mafia series is currently in early development at the studio.
That’s according to Kotaku, which reports new studio boss Nick Baynes is leading development on a brand-new Mafia game, codenamed Nero. The project is said to be a prequel to the Mafia trilogy – which would suggest a return to prohibition era action of the very first Mafia game, if not even earlier.
Kotaku claims the project will see the studio ditching its Mafia 3 engine – used in the recent Mafia series remasters – in favour of Unreal Engine 5. It may, however, be some time before either Hangar 13 or publisher 2K Games is ready to talk about the project, given that it’s still “early in development”.
