Several listings by major retailers display a release date for 2K Games' Mafia 3, potentially leaking its availability prior to developers' official announcement.
According to an image of a Best Buy pre-order card sent into IGN by a fan, the possible release date for Mafia 3 is April 26, 2016. Interestingly enough, the American consumer electronics corporation is not the only company advertising 2K Games' crime-ridden title as being available that day, for Amazon and GameStop have also listed the exact same release date for Mafia 3 on its websites.
Similar to Take-Two Interactive's CEO Strauss Zelnick's speedy reaction to point out the differences between the sequel and Grand Theft Auto 5 to critics last year, its subsidiary in 2K Games quickly issued a statement on Mafia 3's supposed release date. The developer's comment reads:
"Mafia III will release in calendar 2016 during Take-Two Interactive’s fiscal year 2017. No official release date has been announced at this time. It is common practice for retailers to list placeholder dates before an official release date has been announced due to the requirements of their operating systems."
For those unaware, Take-Two Interactive's FY17 begins on April 1, 2016, which gives the date listed by Amazon, GameStop, and Best Buy an extra bit of credence, especially since all three retailers are showing the exact same time frame. Of course, the fact that the game was only confirmed about 5 months ago would indicate an unusually swift turnaround, as developers typically take a year or so to release a title after initially introducing its existence to the public.
Should April 26 be the actual release date for Mafia 3, it would be strange for 2K Games to deny it now and then verify later on down the road that the aforementioned retailers' listings were indeed correct all along. However, even if Amazon, Best Buy, and GameStop are showing the date that 2K had in mind for Mafia 3's availability, it's a smart move on the developer's part to neither confirm nor deny the leak. After all, making a AAA video game is an extremely difficult process that's rife with setbacks, so should a problem occur during production, it would be most advantageous for creators to work with a nebulous release window in place so as to not disappoint fans with declarations of a delay.
Ever since Mafia 3's announcement trailer at gamescom 2015, gamers have been clamoring for any and all information about the title that they can get their hands on, so it's understandable for them to latch onto the possibility of a solid release date finally being made known. At any rate, should the most recent gameplay footage featuring New Orleans in the 1960s be a sign of what Mafia 3's final version will be like, fans of the franchise are definitely in for a treat.
Although Mafia 3's exact release date is still up in the air, it should hit store shelves sometime this year for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.