Gabriel Stanford-ReisingerA rough patch befell Hanger 13 with a bout of layoffs earlier this year and its still-under-a-codename sci-fi open world getting shelved back in November. This hasn’t stopped rumors from flying, though, about a Mafia 4, a prequel entry to the franchise. Even that isn’t enough with reports pointing to the dev seeking to greenlight a fifth installment already.
This stems from the words of a virtual meeting Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier had following the layoffs. Former employees discussed that Nick Baynes, the person who took over the studio head position after its previous lead departed, said that he aims to get a fifth installment greenlit.
Parent company Take-Two Interactive were quick to defend themselves saying it’s fully dedicated to the studio’s future and that it’s connecting those who couldn’t fit into any other project and as such was subject to a layoff with industry networks and resources.
Read Take-Two’s full statement.
“2K is fully committed to the future of Hangar 13 as the studio navigates a challenging but ultimately promising transition period. As part of our ongoing evaluations to ensure our resources are aligned with our goals, we have made some changes that have resulted in a reduction of positions and parting ways with some colleagues. These decisions are always difficult. We are doing all we can to work with the impacted employees to find them new roles on other projects and teams at 2K, and are providing full support to those who cannot be redeployed, connecting them with industry networks and resources to find new opportunities outside of 2K.”