Mafia 3: Everything You Need to Know
From August 2012 to October 2016.
The Mafia 3
journey from rumor to release has been a four-year trek of speculation,
expectation, and new beginnings. With the anticipated next chapter in
the open-world crime adventure hitting PS4, Xbox One, and PC on October
7, now's the perfect time to look back on its history, from hints and
teases to imminent release.
Below is a compilation of
Mafia 3 news, IGN in-depth coverage, trailers, and gameplay that's
slowly trickled out over the last four years.
Here's everything you need to know about Mafia 3.
Nothing but Silence and Hints at a New Setting
After
a year and a half with no word on the next chapter in the Mafia series,
rumors that Mafia 3 could take place in an open-world Louisiana started
swirling when Take-Two issued a casting call for three actors for voice over, motion capture, and facial scans; all of which were for Louisiana-born characters.These new details came at a surprising time as mere months earlier the developer rumored to be working on Mafia 3, 2K Czech, was shuttered following a company restructuring, with resources being diverted to other studios, including 2K's California-based headquarters.
Domain Registration Outs Mafia 3 Before Announcement
Another year goes by and no new information on Mafia 3, until an eagle-eyed watchdog spotted the news that Take-Two registered several domains for Mafia 3 on June 25, 2015, indicating an announcement could be imminent.And was it ever. One month later 2K officially confirmed that Mafia 3 was in development and the publisher was going to finally talk about it at Gamescom 2015.
Mafia 3 Revealed and Our First Impressions
Mafia 3 would be set in New Bordeaux – a fictionalized version of New Orleans – during the tumultuous late '60s, tackling themes like race, family, and taking the series away from the Italian mob motifs it had leaned on up until now.
Mafia 3 Release Date Rumors and Collector's Edition
A few months after the Gamescom reveal event, several retailers listed the Mafia 3 release date as late April, with 2K only commenting that "Mafia III will release in calendar 2016."These listings turned out to be false, as some time later, 2K clarified the Mafia 3 release date would be October 7, 2016 on consoles and PC. Additionally, the publisher revealed the Mafia 3 pre-order bonuses, and that it would be shipping three version of the game: Mafia 3, Mafia 3 Deluxe Edition, and the Mafia 3 Collector's Edition, before fully detailing the Mafia 3 Collector's Edition shortly thereafter.
Hands-On For The First Time
During this time, we finally got a chance to go hands-on with Mafia 3.
After two hours of gameplay, our early impressions were Mafia 3 had a
lot going for it, and that it was poised to improve on the some of the
popular franchise's shortcomings.
IGN's E3 2016 World Premiere
We revealed the biggest secrets of the Mafia 3 E3 trailer, 20 minutes of gameplay in the Mafia E3 demo, and caught up with the Mafia 3 creative director to answer fan questions.
