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Some recent job postings suggest that Mafia 4 may feature multiplayer elements and also hint at some other gameplay details of Hangar 13’s upcoming game. The 2K subsidiary confirmed that a new Mafia game was in development back in August, but since then, almost nothing more has been revealed about the project.
Although Mafia 3 is already over seven years old, its sequel is not expected to hit the market in the near future. Not least because the developer has fallen on hard times in recent years, with significant layoffs at Hangar 13 in mid-2022, reducing the workforce. The studio’s previous confirmation that Mafia 4 was in development also came with a statement that the game was still “many years away” from release.
Be that as it may, some recent job postings show that Hangar 13 seems to already have a clear idea of what Mafia 4 should be like. How the fandom will react to this vision remains to be seen, especially given that one of these newly discovered ads calls for a candidate with experience in creating multiplayer games or live service games. For context, the first three installments of the Mafia franchise were single-player games, although the next two were also monetized via post-launch DLC.
The new job posting stream from Hangar 13 also effectively confirms that Mafia 4 will feature stealth gameplay as it calls for candidates to help develop “engaging stealth and combat gameplay loops”. This isn’t such a surprising discovery considering stealth elements have been a part of the series since the original game was released in 2002. However, stealth has also been one of the weakest and most clumsy parts of the franchise for a long time. Particularly egregious were the stealth sections of Mafia 3, where the enemy AI was often happy to follow Lincoln’s whistle for ridiculous distances with little to no real trouble.
Recent job postings also suggest that Mafia 4 will use Unreal Engine 5, as they specifically call for candidates with experience with one of the last two versions of Epic Games’ ubiquitous engine. This requirement is in line with a mid-2022 rumor that claimed Mafia 4 would run on Unreal Engine 5.
While another job posting at Hangar on March 13 indicated that Mafia 4 may still be in pre-production, these newly discovered ads provide no new clues to the project’s development status. Regardless, given the studio’s previous statements and the fact that it is currently trying to fill some pretty important leadership positions after massive layoffs, it’s safe to assume that Mafia 4 won’t see the light of day anytime soon.
