‘Mafia 3’ Reveal Happening At Gamescom, Gets New Developer
The rumored return of the Mafia franchise is no longer rumored. 2K Games officially announced Mafia III for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on Tuesday, with plans for a full reveal during Gamescom in Cologne, Germany, next week.
Mafia III will debut on Wednesday, August 5 with an announcement trailer at 8:00 a.m. ET / 5 a.m. PT. Those fortunate enough to be at Gamescom this year will have the opportunity to watch a behind-closed-doors presentation of the third-person period crime saga.
See the worldwide reveal of the #Mafia3 announcement trailer on 8/5/15 here: http://t.co/sZ71Hl24i5 pic.twitter.com/1T4bdzBFIq
— Mafia Game (@mafiagame) July 28, 2015
The teaser image released shows four characters, just as the Mafia II did. The cars in the background hint at the time period Mafia III will take place in, though. Whereas the original Mafia took place in the 1930 and the sequel happened in the late 1940s/early 1950s, the third installment jumps to the late 1960s/early 1970s, based on the muscle cars in the background.
A female character is also among the four cover characters for Mafia III. That’s a first for the series, and though it looks like she is sporting an afro hairstyle, it’s hard to tell if she is African-American or not.
A new developer will also be in charge of Mafia III. This comes after Mafia II develop 2K Czech underwent a reorganization early in 2014 that saw the studio split up between Brno and Novato, California, as Video Gamer reported.
The new studio handling development of Mafia III is Hangar 13 and is a 2K Games subsidiary. It was formed in November, 2014, and is headed by former LucasArts Producer and Writer Haden Blackman.
Not much is known about the studio at this point since it will be their first game. However, Blackman’s previous work includes Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, and Star Wars: Galaxies. He’s also written various Star Wars comics and books. He left LucasArts in 2010 and worked as a writer at DC Comics for Batwoman, and he most recently did work on the Elektra and Master of Kung Fu comics for Marvel.
A release window has not been given for Mafia III yet. It’s expected to be available some time in 2016. Whether that is the spring or fall is completely up for discussion at this point. We are likely to find out more during the Gamescom reveal next week.
Mafia II received middle of the road reviews when it was released for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC in 2010. The plot was given high marks, but it was kneecapped by linear gameplay and a relatively short playtime. We’ll have to see if Hanger 13 can bring Mafia III back to the more open-world setting of the original.
[Images via Mafia]
