Studio Hangar 13 behind the latest Mafia games is having a tough time once again facing staff layoffs.
Hangar 13 is a Novato, California-based studio that was founded in 2014 as a division of 2K and released its debut title, Mafia 3 two years later in 2016.
Looks like tough times are pretty much going on for a popular North American video game developer. Not for the first time, the studio that has been working on Mafia games most recently Hangar 13 has continued to face a new difficulty along the way and uncertainty about its future follows a statement. from the head of the studio.
Hangar 13 is a Novato, California-based studio that was founded in 2014 as a division of 2K and released its debut title, Mafia 3 two years later in 2016. The team has moved on. develop and build on Mafia: Definitive Edition in 2020, but it seems that things are far from smooth sailing for Hangar 13 during this developer’s relatively short existence.
Head of studio Hangar 13 and recent successor to Haden Blackman’s role Nick Baynes revealed that the company will suffer a sizable wave of layoffs. According to a report from Kotaku on recent developments, the Novato, California branch will lay off nearly 50 of the company’s current 87 employees. It’s worth noting that at the time of Mafia 3’s release, the California facility had over 100 full-time employees.
Last year, parent company Take-Two Interactive announced the cancellation of the $50 million project Hangar 13 was developing.
The studio currently has a branch in Brighton, England as well as two other branches in Prague and Brno in the Czech Republic. While it’s unclear if the layoffs will affect these affiliates, it will certainly affect the company’s growing titles. Staff at all of the studio’s offices may be worried at the moment as this isn’t the first time Hangar 13 has seen significant layoffs.
Last year, parent company Take-Two Interactive announced the cancellation of the $50 million project Hangar 13 was developing. At that time, the development staff were reassigned to other projects under the umbrella of Take-Two and it was announced that there would be no staff reductions. Now less than a year later, the employees of Hangar 13 are once again in a state of layoff.
Baynes has stated that the remaining staff of the studio are safe and are not in danger of further layoffs. Hangar 13 will continue to work on two projects, including a Mafia prequel. Take-Two also seems happy to continue using Hangar 13 staff on other projects at other studios owned by the company. Hopefully this means Hangar 13 can get more stability in the future and will bring better development to their titles.
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