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2K closes studio in Prague (Mafia series)

Q

Quentyn

Member
Publishing label 2K Games is to restructure its Prague studio, the company has confirmed to CVG.

It is unclear how many jobs will be lost as some development resources are transferred to the company's other Czech Republic studio based in Brno. The publisher said it also has an additional plan in place to relocate some staff from both Czech studios to the corporation's California studio.

2K Games' Prague studio, formerly known as Illusion Softworks, was responsible for the popular PC title Mafia 2. It was rumoured, though not confirmed, that the development outfit was working on Mafia 3.


"We have relocated and consolidated our 2K Czech team from our Prague facility to centralise resources in our Brno studio," a 2K representative told CVG.

"Additionally, we are transferring some development resources from both Prague and Brno to 2K headquarters in Novato, California. This transition will both strengthen the integration of the 2K Czech team with our award winning development teams, and better align cross-functional business practices. As part of this realignment, we are adjusting our staffing levels, resulting in the elimination of some positions."
Click to expand...

Looks similar to the closure of 2K Marin last year. Some staff will be relocated to a another studio, but certainly not everyone.

http://www.computerandvideogames.com/444674/2k-to-restructure-mafia-2-dev/

Some more details from Eurogamer:

There are major changes afoot at Mafia developer 2K Czech, reports Eurogamer Czech.

The main Prague office, where Mafia 3 is suspected to be in development, is apparently to be closed, shedding staff to office-number-two in the city of Brno, where Mafia 2 was made. There will also be some lay-offs.

2K Prague is expected to close within a few months.

10 key developers from 2K Czech are also said to have been relocated to 2K's main office in Novato, California (it's not clear if this is the team BioShock Infinite 'closer' Rod Fergusson is leading). Why, though - is Mafia 3 development moving continents?
Click to expand...

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-01-10-2k-czech-restructuring-mafia-3-moving-to-us
 
D

Data West

coaches in the WNBA
Isn't there rumors to support a Mafia 3 in development? And that Rockstar was helping them with the engine or something?
 
M

Messofanego

Banned
Not sure if this is good news or bad news? Have they just relocated everything, but still had layoffs, and Mafia 3 is undeterred?

Mafia 2 was one of my favourite TPSs from last gen, the mechanics and feel were perfectly nailed down (rounding corners - should be required in any cover system, great shooting feedback especially the shotgun combined with the hit reactions, destruction, levels, atmosphere) along with actually engaging and likeable characters for a crime story. Also, dat ending :(
 
B

Blink Me

Member
That's a shame. I loved the original Mafia. I did like Mafia 2 as well but didn't think it was as memorable and the story felt a lot shorter.
 
P

Pachimari

Member
Let's hope the studio can handle development of Mafia 3 better than they did Mafia 2, because that was chaotic and must have been hell for some of their programmers. Would be a little awkward to ask help from Rockstar Games again..
 
Q

Quentyn

Member
Here is the original article on Eurogamer Czech. Quick summary from what I could gather through Google translate:

After Mafia 2 the majority of the staff moved from Brno to Prague, presumably to work on Mafia 3. In September of the last year multiple key developers from the Mafia series moved to California. This was around the time 2K announced that they founded a studio with Rod Fergusson as head, so I assume all those developers work for him now. Now the remaining developers in Prague moved back to Brno and the studio in Prague will be closed. The original article makes sounds like it is more a reshuffling than a complete studio closure. For Mafia 3 there seems to be three options now. First the development could continue in Brno alone, through this could be difficult without the key people that work in California now. The development could continue with Fergusson's studio as lead developer and Brno as support. And lastly Mafia 3 is canned and Brno is only a support studio now for whatever 2K else is working on. I assume it all depends on the state of the game and how far in development the game is.
 
D

DocSeuss

Member
Okay. So this is more like "all the key people moved over to X and are working at that studio, and the studio that remained that studio in name only has shut down."

Like if Carmack, Romero, Hall, and a couple other guys started a new company. We wouldn't really mourn id shutting down.
 
S

SparkTR

Member
Dragonzord said:
They aren't? Didn't they just publish Bioshock and GTA?
Click to expand...

Maybe I got it wrong but there was a chart floating around here a few days ago that indicated they are on a downward trend. I'm pretty certain Bioshock was a money sink for them, and GTAV was a massive success and will no doubt boost financials for that quarter, but it still doesn't get them the amount of revenue an annualized franchise like CoD does for other publishers. I can't find the chart now so maybe I got it wrong.
 
C

Crab Milk Mickey

Member
If there's still going to be another Mafia, I'm hoping 2K will still let the developers do their own thing with 3 rather than have it be another GTA (except in the 50's or whatever) in a poor attempt to target its demographic. Some of the complaints in reviews et al with the second game were misplaced, but I wouldn't be surprised if 2K took them to heart for the worse like most big-budget AAA sequels nowadays. Wouldn't mind seeing better planning for substantial DLC though, since neither of 2's add-ons were interesting; Joe's Adventure turned dull after the very first mission and Jimmy's Vendeta was okay for what it was, but no one asked for it.
 
I

ittoryu

Member
No, please don't kill Mafia. Please no. Please. :(

I found this story interesting also from a strategy perspective: wouldn't have been cheaper to keep one studio in Czech Republic rather than move and centralize the project(s) in US?

Anyway.. no 2k, you can't kill Mafia.
 
Sentenza

Sentenza

Member
Is this actually the former Illusion Softworks?
Man, I used to love their output since their pinball games.

EDIT: Damn, my memory was failing me hard. I loved most games from Illusion Softworks, sure, but the pinball games I was thinking about (Pinball Illusions, Fantasies, etc) were actually from DICE (formerly known as Digital Illusions).
 
R

runnin_blue

Banned
SparkTR said:
So Mafia 3 is done for? I know 2K aren't doing too great but I thought that game was close to being finished.
Click to expand...

What? As far as I'm aware there has been no official announcement of Mafia 3, no screen shots, no video and no news.

How have you deduced that it was close to being finished?
 
SaucyJack

SaucyJack

Member
Didn't a bunch of them leave 2k with Daniel Vavra, the Mafia Dev, to setup Warhorse? They've got a medieval RPG in development.
 
Sentenza

Sentenza

Member
SaucyJack said:
Didn't a bunch of them leave 2k with Daniel Vavra, the Mafia Dev, to setup Warhorse? They've got a medieval RPG in development.
Click to expand...
Yeah, Kingdom Come. We had a thread about it.
And several older threads about some of Vavra's blog entries, too (hum, I know because I started them).
 
S

SparkTR

Member
runnin_blue said:
What? As far as I'm aware there has been no official announcement of Mafia 3, no screen shots, no video and no news.

How have you deduced that it was close to being finished?
Click to expand...

Maybe close to being finished was an exaggeration, but the game has reportedly been in development (including pre-production) since 2011. Seems the game would be far enough along to see all the way through.
 
T

ThatGuy

Member
The Prague office is a remote office of 2k Czech. Most of the development and the majority of the development staff is located in the Brno office.
Maybe 2k Marin is taking over a major part of the development after XCOM: Declassified was released.
 
C

Crab Milk Mickey

Member
ThatGuy said:
The Prague office is a remote office of 2k Czech. Most of the development and the majority of the development staff is located in the Brno office.
Maybe 2k Marin is taking over a major part of the development after XCOM: Declassified was released.
Click to expand...
Didn't the 2K Marin studio close as well recently?
 
S

Samir Sedlar

Member
I don't think Mafia III will be cancelled, I mean come on they didn't cancel The Bureau: XCOM Declassified and still sent it to die after many changes, I don't think Mafia III suffered the same development limbo like XCOM, It should be better received.
 
C

Crawl

Member
So did they just axe an entire game midway through development?

Whats left for 2k as far as studios?

Firaxas
Irrational
Gears of war guy studio
Visual Concepts
WWE studio

and everything rockstar?
 
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