Hangar 13 sees its studio head leave the 2K studio while the new Mafia 4 game is still in development.
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| Hangar 13 studio head is leaving 2K studio |
Hangar 13, the American video game developer, is seeing its studio head leave. After seven years of hard work, Haden Blackman is walking away from the Mafia III maker.
In an email to the general staff, the published wrote that the former LucasArts veteran will “pursue his passion at a new endeavor.” And the interesting part is that at the time of his leaving, a Mafia 4 game is still in the early stages of development, says a source.
2K shared an internal communication with some authorities like VentureBeat, among others. In it, they said, “We are grateful for Haden’s leadership in establishing Hangar 13, building and uniting teams in Novato, Brighton, and Czech, and releasing multiple studio-defining Mafia games and collections.”
They continued to express their feelings about the move, “What Haden helped build will continue to carry forward and grow for years to come. We support all of our employees pursuing their passions, and we wish nothing but the best for him in what’s next.”
There is one thing that 2K did not allude to in the email. And that is the simultaneous leaving of Matthew Urban, the Hangar chief operating officer. On his LinkedIn account, Urban wrote, “What an amazing ride at H13.......let’s see what is next.” It is worth keeping in mind that all these changes are taking place when the company is making a shift from the original projects to their already set-up franchise, Mafia.
You will recall it to be a third-person shooter video game series. Imagine GTA V, but with a mob-movie take on things.
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Who’ll be moving in the seat of Blackman?
Nick Baynes, the current studio head of Hangar 13 at Brighton, UK, will take the place of Blackman. Now, the UK office of H13 is considered to be a lead developer in the new Mafia 4 game.
We don’t know much about the game, just that its code name is Nero and it is to be the prequel to the previous three Mafia games. The publishers will be using the Unreal Engine 5, unlike the Mafia III engine used for the remasters.
2K gave this message to their staff regarding the issue, “With 30 years of industry leadership experience, Nick joined Hangar 13 in 2018 to establish Hangar 13 Brighton, and has spent the last four years growing the team, building up the studio’s capabilities, and launching terrific projects like Mafia: Definitive Edition and the Mafia Trilogy.”
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You will find the entire email that declared Blackman’s departure below:
Hello team,
It’s with mixed emotions that I share with you several leadership updates from Hangar 13.
Haden Blackman is stepping down as Studio Head of Hangar 13 and is leaving the company to pursue his passion for a new endeavor. We are grateful for Haden’s leadership in establishing Hangar 13, building and uniting teams in Novato, Brighton, and Czech, and releasing multiple studio-defining Mafia games and collections. What Haden helped build will continue to carry forward and grow for years to come. We support all of our employees in pursuing their passions, and we wish nothing but the best for him in what’s next.
Nick Baynes, Studio Head of Hangar 13 Brighton will take over as Studio Head of Hangar 13. With 30 years of industry leadership experience, Nick joined Hangar 13 in 2018 to establish Hangar 13 Brighton and has spent the last four years growing the team, building up the studio’s capabilities, and launching terrific projects like 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 a well-deserved promotion. While change can be challenging, it can also breed new opportunities and success.
We are confident the studio is in great hands heading into the multiple projects currently underway, and the team has 2K’s full support.
2K
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Hangar 13 hasn’t exactly been well-off recently. It shipped Mafia III, then was subject to two rounds of layoffs in 2017-18. They had lots of ideas for the new IPs then.
A spy game based on the music cues called Rhapsody, a co-op class-based action game like Destiny 2 (code name: Volt, though secretly canceled by the parent company after a lot had been spent on it already), an IP, Mosaic, which was a loot-based ARPG and abandoned before it got revealed, are some examples.
Take-Two has been taking help for H13 to assist in Gearbox’s recent Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands. It has been informed that most are working remotely still, and looking for the door, like Urban and Blackman.
And that is about all there is on this issue.
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