Hanger 13 Lays Off Most of Their Main Studio

Back in 2016, the future was actually looking pretty bright for Hanger 13, the developers behind Mafia III. Despite the game being released to mixed reviews and performance issues, the game received large amounts of praise for its narrative. As a first game for the newly established studio, there was promise showcased for their future projects.

Unfortunately, flash forward a few years, and the studio has had multiple setbacks and problems which call its feature into question. The development of a new IP, codenamed Volt, was canceled by Take-Two after the project was reported to have gone over its intended budget. Now it seems that Hanger 13 is laying off developers at their main branch in Novato, California.

Kotaku has reported that just under 50 employees in Novato are being let go. Prior to this, the studio had 87 employees at that office making this a significant amount of layoffs. There will also be layoffs to Hanger 13’s international offices as well, the extent of those layoffs remains unknown at this time.

Studio head Haden Blackman left earlier this month, being replaced by Nick Baynes, who reportedly told staff of the impending cuts during a meeting on May 26th. During this meeting, he reportedly stated “I know it sucks,” according to Kotaku.

Despite the turbulence, a spokesman for Take-Two stated to Gamespot:

2K is fully committed to the future of Hangar 13 as the studio navigates a challenging but ultimately promising transition period. As part of our ongoing evaluations to ensure our resources are aligned with our goals, we have made some changes that have resulted in a reduction of positions and parting ways with some colleagues. These decisions are always difficult. We are doing all we can to work with the impacted employees to find them new roles on other projects and teams at 2K, and are providing full support to those who cannot be redeployed, connecting them with industry networks and resources to find new opportunities outside of 2K.

Currently, Hanger 13’s Brighton, UK studio has been rumored to be developing a prequel to the Mafia trilogy, set in Italy. Additionally, Hanger 13’s studio has been used for “in-source” with other projects at Take-Two such as Tiny Tina’s Wonderland, Midnight Suns, and Kerbal Space Program 2. Better yet, reports suggest Hanger 13 is working on a new game in the Top Spin Tennis series, being developed as Codename Hammer.

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