Mafia developer Hangar 13 has been working on the next game in franchise for a few years. Official updates and information about the new Mafia title have been scarce since its existence was confirmed in 2022. The game was initially rumoured to be a prequel, with reported plans to develop it in Unreal Engine 5. Now, after almost two years since the unnamed Mafia game was first confirmed, publisher 2K is reportedly close to making an official announcement about the series.
A reliable games industry leaker has claimed that the Take-Two subsidiary is set to provide an update on the Mafia series. In a post on X Tuesday, video game researcher @Kurakasis said that 2K was gearing up for a Mafia announcement. “I can tell you that a few days ago, Take-Two began preparations for an announcement regarding the Mafia series,” they said.
The tipster said that it was hard to say when 2K would make the announcement, but we could see something in about three to four weeks, in line with the reveal timeline of a previous leak. It’s hard for me to determine the timeframe, but with Judas I’ve seen them gearing up for the new trailer about 3-4 weeks before it dropped, so… soon,” Kurakasis said.
FYI:
I specifically wrote ‘an announcement regarding the Mafia series’ because I DON’T KNOW if it’s an announcement of Mafia 4, the next-gen update for Mafia Trilogy, or something else.When I find out more, I’ll let you know.
— Kurakasis (@Kurakasis) April 16, 2024
The same leaker had previously tipped the reveal of Judas, a first-person shooter from Take-Two owned studio Ghost Story Games. The game was announced via a reveal trailer at The Game Awards 2022.
Kurakasis, however, warned that the Mafia series announcement wouldn’t necessarily be related to Mafia 4. It could also be a next-gen update for Mafia: Trilogy, which includes the Mafia: Definitive Edition remake, Mafia 2 remaster and a port of Mafia 3, or something entirely else.
However, considering Hangar 13’s 2022 confirmation, the next Mafia game is more likely to be a new title in the series rather than a next-gen update. It’s still unclear if the upcoming game would continue the story of 2016’s Mafia 3 or serve as a prequel to previous Mafia games.
Mafia maker Hangar 13 is also launching TopSpin 2K25, a revival of the popular tennis video game series, later this month. The tennis sim is coming out April 26, across PS5, PS4, Xbox Series S/X, Xbox One and PC.
Back in August 2022, Hangar 13 had confirmed that a new Mafia game was under development. The studio’s General Manager Roman Hladik had said at the time that the new project was “a few years away” from being officially unveiled.