The next Mafia game is in active development, Hangar 13’s Roman Hladík has confirmed. However, it is still a few years away and it may not necessarily be called Mafia 4. The news came from a developer interview celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Mafia franchise. In those twenty years the Mafia series has spanned three games, and a very well received remake in Mafia Definitive Edition.
In the interview Roman Hladík said, “I’m happy to confirm we’ve started work on an all-new Mafia project! While it’s a few years away and we can’t share anything more right now, we’re really excited to keep working on this beloved franchise and to entertain our players with new stories.”
The interview has both Roman Hladík, Tomáš Hřebíček, and Alex Cox talking about the history of developing the Mafia franchise. From the humble beginnings of the original Mafia having just 20 to 25 developers at its peak, and the long development time for Mafia II which spanned eight years. In that time the team was working on Mafia console ports, and changing the engine for Mafia II. They also speak about the changes for Mafia Definitive Edition, with one key change of making Sarah a more prominent character compared to the original release.
The original Mafia was released in 2002 and followed the story of Thomas Angelo during the 1930s. Mafia II was released in 2010 and followed the story of Vito Scaletta during the 1940s and 50s. Then Mafia III was released in 2016 following the story of Lincoln Clay during the late 1960s. The events of each game bleed into the other detailing an overarching plot of Mafia families going to war and deals being made.
Source: Official Mafia site