Mafia 4 is in development, 2K confirms

A rumor surfaced earlier this year claiming that 2K Games' studio Hangar 13 was working on a new Mafia game under new leadership, following the departure of longtime president and chief creative officer Haden Blackman. Now it's official: In an interview posted at mafiagame.com to mark the 20th anniversary of the original Mafia, general manager Roman Hladík finally confirmed that it's happening.

"I'm happy to confirm we've started work on an all-new Mafia project!" Hladík said. "While it's a few years away and we can't share anything more right now, we're really excited to keep working on this beloved franchise and to entertain our players with new stories."

The May rumor indicated that the new Mafia game will be built in Unreal Engine 5 rather than the proprietary engine used for the previous games, and more interestingly it will reportedly be a prequel to the existing trilogy. The series has hopped around historically between games, from the early 1930s of the original game to the turbulent late-'60s of Mafia 3, so it's not entirely unexpected that the studio would opt for yet another era for the fourth game. There's certainly fertile ground for it: The Prohibition era is the classic Mafia setting but there was plenty going on around the turn of the 20th century, too.

It's equally unsurprising that a new Mafia game, regardless of details, is happening: Mafia 3 didn't exactly knock our socks off, but it's a successful and well-liked series, and that makes the question of a sequel not an "if," but a "when."

If you've never played Mafia and want to see where it all began, 2K Games is giving away the original on Steam over the weekend, beginning on September 1. The updated Mafia Definitive Edition is also on sale for $14/£12/€14—65% off the regular price—until September 8.