Haden Blackman, the head of development house Hangar 13, left his post, along with the COO, while Mafia 4 entered the early stages of development. The announcement of the departure of the veteran, ex-LucasArts, was given by the publisher 2K Games. From this moment Blackman will devote himself to pursuing his unspecified passion.
Some sources inside Kotaku have talked about the existence of Mafia 4, without sharing too many details. Virtually nothing is known about the game, apart from the codename, Nero, and which is supposed to be a prequel to the original trilogy. The game engine should be the Unreal Engine 5, which will replace that of Mafia III, used for the recent remastered editions of the three chapters of the trilogy.
As highlighted, Blackman isn’t the only one to leave the development studio. In addition to him, Matthew Urban, the chief operating officer (COO), has also left, who made the announcement on his LinkedIn profile. In short, it seems that Hangar 13 is losing some important pieces, which is never a good sign.
In place of Blackman as head of the studio is Nick Baynes, who will lead the development of the new Mafia. Baynes joined Hangar 13 in 2018 and has spent the past few years growing the team and helping in the making of Mafia: Definitive Edition and Mafia Trilogy.
Hangar 13 has always been a team in the balance. According to the many stories that emerged from ex-developers, it often risked being completely closed due to the many projects started and never finalized. It has recently been used as a supporting studio for Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands.