What 2K didn’t mention in the email was that Matthew Urban, Hangar 13 chief operating officer, has also left the studio. “What an amazing ride at H13.......let’s see what is next,” he wrote on LinkedIn. These shifts come as Hangar 13 pivots from original projects back to established franchises like Mafia, the open world, third-person shooter series that’s often compared to Grand Theft Auto—except with a more mob-movie approach.

Replacing Blackman is Nick Baynes, currently studio head at Hangar 13's Brighton, UK office, which Kotaku understands to be leading development on a new Mafia game. While the project is still early in development, its code name is Nero and it’s expected to be a prequel to the Mafia trilogy. The plan is to make it in Unreal Engine 5 instead of the Mafia III engine that was recently used for the remasters.