Hangar 13, the studio behind Mafia 3, is said to have been hit by another round of layoffs after several projects were cancelled.
In a new report, it is claimed that the Novoto, California-based studio has seen nearly 50 developers leave the profession as of this week. This follows the head of the developer, Haden Blackman, who decided to step down earlier this month. According to Kotaku, Nick Baynes, head of the Hangar 13 office in Brighton, UK, told staff “I know it sucks” during a meeting earlier today. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to send this message, I know you need some structure and local leadership and we’re working on that.”
2K confirmed the layoffs in a statement provided in advance in the Kotaku report. “2K is fully committed to the future of Hangar 13 as the studio navigates a challenging but ultimately promising transition,” they said. “As part of our ongoing review to ensure our resources align with our goals, we made a number of changes that resulted in position reductions and splits. some of his colleagues.
“These decisions are always very difficult. We’re doing all we can to work with impacted employees to find new roles for them on other projects and teams at 2K, and fully support those unable to perform. redefine work, connecting them with industry networks and resources to find new opportunities outside of 2K.” It is also understood that some staff at the Hangar 13 studio are currently working on “Project Hammer”, which can be understood as the reboot project of the Top Spin series. The title that is expected to launch before the rumored Mafia prequel is also currently in development.
This past November, 2K canceled a new project from Hangar 13. Codenamed Volt, the project has been in development in various forms since 2017. But those are said to be familiar. with 2K’s decision to tell Bloomberg that work on the unannounced project has stopped. The author of the article, Jason Schreier, asserts that Volt is a brand new IP and that rumors that Hangar 13 is working on Mafia 4 “have always been false, except for their initial efforts back in 2016- 2017”.