2K Games are actively selling Mafia: The Old Country as a sideshow
It "can easily complement the other more persistent games our players also love"
Mafia: The Old Country will release on August 8th, developers Hangar 13 and publishers 2K Games have confirmed, and look, here’s a trailer featuring much headlong bloodshed in the villas, citrus groves and *squints* mysterious firelit dungeons of early 20th century Sicily.
With GTA 6 now releasing in 2026, the new Mafia is the criminal enterprise to beat this year. Rather than trying to fill the hole left by the Rockstar colossus, it’s playing things small with “a focused, linear experience that combines quality storytelling, authentic era immersion and a refined take on the familiar Mafia gameplay,” according to Hangar 13 president Nick Baynes.
As noted by Eurogamer, 2K Games and parent company Take Two Interactive are positioning the new Mafia as a side dish for the enormous live service productions that have become triple-A publishing's stock in trade.
“We think there’s a large audience for compelling stories that don’t require massive time commitments,” said 2K president David Ismailer in a release. “We’re excited to offer a game like Mafia: The Old Country in our portfolio, and to provide a linear highly-polished narrative experience that can easily complement the other more persistent games our players also love and engage with on a more consistent basis.”
Good lord, I remember when accidentally uttering the word “linear” in a press release or interview for a big-budget action game was the kiss of death. You’d find torch-waving gamer mobs at your gates the next day. That era has passed below the horizon: we are older now, and full of woe. We crave the sweet succinctness of a mildly interactive corridor.
It’s definitely a tapdance, openly selling your game as a “complement” for other games - possibly the devs at Hangar 13 find the language here a bit condescending. My somewhat more depressing analysis is that The Old Country is effectively being offered as a holiday from those games. You've done your time at the seasonal content coalface, so off you go to Sicily for some highly scripted R&R.
Personally, I’m less bothered by questions of length than by the fact that The Old Country seems quite formulaic and lumbering. Guy shoots guy. Guy shoots guy while hunkered down behind table. Guy drives car very fast. Guy stabs guy. I do like the environments, though – hopefully, Hangar 13 have baked in plenty of opportunity to just wander through the groves looking at lemons and whatnot.