Hangar 13 studio head Haden Blackman leaves Mafia III maker Seven years later, 2K Games announced Wednesday. The publisher wrote in an email to employees that Former LucasArts veteran He will “pursue his passion in a new endeavor.” Kotaku Realize that this step comes with a file mafia The game is very early in development in Hangar 13, according to a source familiar with the plans.
2K wrote in an internal message shared with VentureBeat and others. “What Haden helped build will continue to move forward and grow for years to come. We support all of our employees in the pursuit of their passion, and we wish nothing but the best for him in the next step.”
What 2K didn’t mention in the email is that Matthew Urban, Hangar 13’s chief operating officer, has also left the studio. He wrote on LinkedIn: “What a great journey in H13……Let’s see what’s next.” These transitions come as Hangar 13 hubs from original projects to established franchises like mafiaopen world, It is often compared to third-person shooter series grand theft auto-Except with the mob movie approach.
Blackman replaced Nick Baines, currently head of studio at Hangar 13 in Brighton, UK, who Kotaku Realize to be a pioneer in development on a new level mafia Game. While the project is still in an early stage of development, its code name is Nero and is expected to be a precursor to mafia triple. The plan is to make it in Unreal Engine 5 instead of Mafia III The engine that was recently used in regenerators.
Read more: How the makers of the third mafia lost their way
With 30 years of industry leadership experience, Nick joined Hangar 13 in 2018 to found Hangar 13 Brighton, and has spent the past four years growing the team, building studio capabilities, and launching great projects like Mafia: Definitive Edition and the Mafia trilogy2K told employees Wednesday.
Hangar 13 has been in a precarious situation for years. After charging ambition Mafia IIIit experienced two rounds of layoffs, first in 2017 and then again in 2018. The studio had many ideas for new IPs during this time and beyond. As I mentioned before KotakuAnd One was a spy game about musical cues called fascination. Another game was a class-based cooperative action game Fate 2. Code labeled VoltIt was quietly canceled by parent company Take-Two last year after already spending $53 million on development. The third Mosaic game with the new IP code was a loot-based ARPG that was also abandoned before it was ever officially revealed.
Recently, Take-Two is using Hangar 13 developers to help with its other published games like the recently released stolen shooter game Gearbox. Wonders of Tiny Tina. Most of them are still working remotely, and Kotaku Some, after Blackman and Urban, were also said to be looking for the door.
2K Games declined to comment. Here is the full email announcing Blackman’s departure:
hello team,
With mixed feelings I am sharing with you several driving updates from Hangar 13.
Haden Blackman is stepping down as Head of Studio Hangar 13, and leaving the company to pursue his passion in a new endeavor. We are grateful for Haden’s leadership in creating Hangar 13, building and uniting teams in Novato, Brighton and Czech, and releasing the many studio-defining Mafia games and kits. What Hadden helped build will continue to move forward and grow for years to come. We support all of our employees in pursuing their interests, and we wish nothing but the best for him in the next step.
Nick Baynes, Head of Studio Hangar 13, Brighton will take over as Head of Studio of Hangar 13. With 30 years of industry leadership experience, Nick joined Hangar 13 in 2018 to found Hangar 13 Brighton, and has spent the past four years growing the team, building the capabilities studio and launch wonderful projects such as Mafia: Definitive Edition and the Mafia trilogy.
I hope you’ll join me in thanking Haden and wishing him the best, and congratulating Nick on his well-deserved promotion. While change can be challenging, it can also generate new opportunities and success.
We are confident that the studio is in good hands as they go with the multiple projects currently underway, and the team has 2K’s full support.
2 K
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