The next game in the Mafia series has entered the early stages of development, that’s despite two major departures at developer Hangar 13. Studio Head Haden Blackman and Chief Operating Officer Matthew Urban departed the company this week, with Blackman having served the studio for seven years.

In an internal communication to employees, 2K stated that Blackman is leaving to “pursue his passion at 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,” the message from 2K read. “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.”

Replacing Blackman is Nick Baynes, head of Hangar 13’s Brighton studio, who according to a report from Kotaku, is leading development on a new Mafia title.

The next instalment, codenamed Nero, will reportedly be a prequel to the Mafia Trilogy, likely placing this game somewhere in the 1920’s. The report also claims that Hangar 13 plan to ditch the Mafia 3 engine in favour of Unreal Engine 5, a move recently made by CD Projekt Red for development on The Witcher 4.

The return to the Mafia series comes after publisher 2K pulled the plug on a new IP known internally as Volt. The project was to become a live service game that would rival the likes of Destiny, but after 4 years of development the game was canned by 2K, costing the publisher $53 million.

Hangar 13 was announced as a new studio from 2K in 2014, making their debut in 2016 with Mafia 3, which received middling reviews. The studio merged with Mafia 2 developer 2K Czech the following year before a round of layoffs struck the studio in February 2018; 3 months later, Hangar 13’s Brighton studio was opened.

It’s likely that we won’t hear much about the reported Mafia prequel for at least a few years, but with the series shifting to Unreal Engine 5, it would be fair to assume that this will only release on current-gen systems and PC.