- The Hangar 13 president has pushed back on Grand Theft Auto and Mafia comparisons, calling them “an internet thing.”
- He believes that Mafia and GTA are not direct competitors despite being third-person shooter IPs.
- The president also states that the team doesn’t internally look at GTA to steer its strategy or development.
Both Mafia and GTA have previously been compared for being similar crime-driven third-person-shooter games. In fact, when Mafia: The Old Country was announced for a 2025 release, many thought the game would be overshadowed by GTA 6’s 2026 launch.
Although GTA 6 was later delayed, comparisons between the two IPs live on. This is where the Hangar 13 president disagrees with fans, stating that these comparisons don’t make all that much sense.
Why it matters: GTA doesn’t have any real competition in the modern era, so fans have turned to 2K and Hangar 13’s Mafia series as a potential competitor to Rockstar Games’ behemoth open-world series.
Hangar 13 president Nick Baynes has rejected the idea that the series is directly comparable to GTA in a new interview. He notes that the link between these two IPs is something fans have come up with.
As of the latest releases, Hangar 13 and 2K continue highlighting Mafia as a more focused, cinematic crime series rather than a direct rival to Rockstar’s open-world behemoth of a franchise.
This is also evident when looking at Mafia: The Old Country, which focused on Sicily and organized crime in an older era. Interestingly enough, the Hangar 13 president even refrained from naming GTA 6.
He states that the game did not steer Mafia’s development at all and likely won’t do so in the future either.
It genuinely never ever comes up in conversation as a touchpoint or steering our strategy or anything like that. It’s not something the studio looks at.
What do you think about the two franchises? Do you see the comparisons between them being valid?
Thank you! Please share your positive feedback. 🔋
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[Editor-in-Chief]
Sajjad Hussain is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Tech4Gamers.com. Apart from the Tech and Gaming scene, Sajjad is a Seasonal banker who has delivered multi-million dollar projects as an IT Project Manager and works as a freelancer to provide professional services to corporate giants and emerging startups in the IT space.
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