[ORIGINAL STORY] Hangar 13 founder, president, and chief creative officer Haden Blackman is stepping down from his position, as reported today by GamesIndustry.biz, to pursue his passion in a new endeavor. He will be replaced by the current head of the Brighton office, Nick Baynes. For his part, Blackman described his career at Hangar 13 with the following blurb on his LinkedIn page. What Haden helped build will continue to carry forward and grow for years to come. We support all of our employees pursuing their passions, and we wish nothing but the best for him in what’s next. One of the most interesting tidbits is his confirmation that Mafia III has ‘reached’ nearly 20 million players. That said, the figure likely includes demo downloads; last we heard, the game had sold 7 million units as of two years ago. In 2018, expanded Hangar 13 to include a fourth site in Brighton (UK). Led growth, strategy, and creative across all sites, along with development of original IP. Defined and delivered to five-year plan. Led creative and production development of MAFIA: The Definitive Edition and the MAFIA Trilogy, both of which released across multiple platforms in 2020 and exceeded critical and commercial goals. Currently manage studio GMs, COO, and creative leads across all sites while leading development of multiple unannounced titles. Winner of the 2021 GamesIndustry.biz US Best Boss Award. Hangar 13 did encounter two major setbacks during Blackman’s tenure, anyway. The studio had to cancel two games, Project Rhapsody (a game set in 1980s Berlin) and Volt (a sci-fi title with supernatural elements that cost 2K Games $53 million). The latter’s cancellation is recent, making it unlikely that we’ll hear about the studio’s next game in the near future.
