Mafia 3. 13 games that sunk their dev teams
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Mafia was stuck in a limbo for years, and in 2016 we finally got a new game – which was outdated by at least a decade. Considering the effect, we wish we could have waited for it even longer. In the end, the cool vibe of the setting did not help, and neither did the fantastic soundtrack – the game sank along with its creators, or at least with some of them. Anyway, it was also the aftermath of many previous troubles. In the years leading to the release, it was increasingly evident that 2K did not know what to do with its Czech studio, and the poor quality of the game became the main reason for making a tough call.
2K Czech (formerly Illusion Softworks) revealed in 2011 with a job advertisement that it was preparing a new AAA game. So it was clear that the fathers of the Mafia series were making a sequel. The development, however, took a long time, and the studio itself struggled with a large number of problems. The headquarters took turns laying off and hiring new employees, and it was finally decided to create a completely new studio – and so, the Hangar 13 team was created in California. In 2015, it was reported that Mafia 3 is indeed in the pipeline. The new team was to complete the project, and the authors of the previous parts from 2K Czech acted as consultants.
If you've had the chance to play it, you already know how it ended. You probably have heard about the consequences – 2K Czech was finally merged with Hangar 13 in 2017. How are they doing now? After the release, there were a large number of layoffs in their ranks, but a new branch was subsequently opened, and the studio is reportedly working on part four. So far, they aren't in danger of failure.
