It’s been a turbulent seven years for Hangar 13 since Mafia 3…
According to Kotaku and Bloomberg, Hangar 13, the 2K subsidiary that developed Mafia 3, has been undergoing significant layoffs, with the original team slowly dwindling away.
Hangar 13 comprises three studios worldwide, and Kotaku reports that “nearly 50” of the 87 employees in the city of Novato, California, have been laid off. It’s not yet known how much if at all, the developer’s offices in Brighton (UK) and Brno (Czech Republic) have been affected by the change.
The years since the release of Mafia 3 have been hard on Hangar 13.
The developer already suffered an earlier round of layoffs in 2018, and late last year, they cancelled their massive $53 million projects. Just this month, Hangar 13 underwent a leadership change, with former company president Haden Blackman replaced by Nick Baynes, who seems to have been propagating more layoffs.
Kotaku and Bloomberg also report that Hangar 13’s primary focus remains a new Mafia game, reportedly a prequel set in Italy codenamed “Nero”.
But the developer is often called upon as a support studio for other 2K projects. Nothing is set in stone, but it’s easy to imagine what a colossal challenge Hangar 13’s developers will face in the wake of all the adversity they’ve suffered in recent years.
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