Fans of the Mafia game franchise have been anxiously speculating about what developer Hangar 13 was working on next. The California-based team finished work on the Mafia: Definitive Edition in 2020, but its next project has been a mystery. That mystery is unlikely to be answered now, however, as reports claim that Hangar 13's in-development new IP has now been canceled by Take-Two publisher 2K Games.
As reported by Jason Schreier of Bloomberg, Take-Two has canceled a project currently in development at Hangar 13. The game, code-named Volt, was said to have cost $53 million in development costs. The report was confirmed by Take-Two via an earnings statement issued on Wednesday, in which it said that it would have a charge of $53 million due to the end of an "unannounced title." No reason for the cancelation of Hangar 13's new game has been provided at this time.
Little is known about Hangar 13's now-canceled game, though there are rumors of a Cthulhu open-world game. Many had believed the studio to be working on a new Mafia game, either Mafia 4 or a franchise reboot, but that is apparently not the case. The team is said to have been working on an entirely new IP. What this IP is hasn't been shared publically and may remain so depending on what Hangar 13 is set up to do next. Hangar 13 is a division of 2K, so it doesn't have the freedom to choose its future direction, but its endeavors hopefully don't go completely to waste.
The developers at Hangar 13 were reportedly informed of the game cancelation via an email, which itself is perhaps a glimpse into some of the issues within the company. Further, some non-US staff who apparently didn't have access to the company-wide email heard only through follow-up reporting. Obviously, this is an extremely challenging issue on its own, but the handling of it is another problem altogether.
Hangar 13 has had a tumultuous history and the cancelation of its new game is just the latest chapter. Following the completion of the development of Mafia 3 in 2017, the studio faced multiple layoffs, including turnover among several key creatives. So far, no layoffs or cuts have been confirmed for Hangar 13 at this time, but there are understandable worries.
Given the recency of this news breaking, the story is unsurprisingly underdeveloped. Expect further details regarding Hangar 13's project, Take-Two's reasoning for its cancelation, and follow-up regarding the state and future plans of Hangar 13 in the days and weeks to come.