Though Mafia games have typically been met with mixed reception from critics and audiences alike (with the exception of the first game), the series has been a consistently successful one for 2K Games and parent company Take-Two Interactive from a commercial standpoint. During Take-Two’s recently quarterly Q&A with investors, they confirmed that Mafia 3 has now shipped over 7 million units worldwide.
Speaking about the franchise as a whole, Take-Two president Karl Slatoff remarked that all Mafia games have sold well, before moving on to talk about the recently announced Mafia: Trilogy. In particular, he spoke about the upcoming Mafia: Definitive Edition – which is a remake of the first game in the series – and all the improvements it will be making to the first game.
“In terms of Mafia, it has been an incredibly successful franchise for us over a long period of time between Mafia 1, Mafia 2, Mafia 3,” he said. “And just to give you an idea, Mafia 3 has already sold in it’s about 7 million units or so. Mafia 2 is also incredibly successful and Mafia 1 as well. So it’s been a significant contributor for us.”
“We’re really excited about the trilogy,” he continued. “It is the same three games, but there’s obviously more improvements that are occurring with the game. Mafia 1 is going to be basically completely remade. It’s not fully remade, but there’s going to be new tech, there’s going to be new voice acting, new game-intend, gimmicks, and a lot more than that. So there is quite a bit of work that’s going into bringing up the trilogy.”
Slatoff went on to say that Mafia remains an important property for Take-Two, and that the upcoming trilogy presents a chance to draw new audiences into the franchise.
“We’ve had great success with bringing out these collections,” he said. “And again, even though they’re not brand new experiences, there’s always a new audience to catch. And then there’s always a new experience depending on the just the generation that each of those individual titles came out, where even existing fans can enjoy in a different way. So it’s been meaningful for us as a franchise. We’re really excited about the trilogy coming out.”
Mafia 2 and 3’s definitive editions are out now, while the Mafia 1 remake will be releasing in August. Meanwhile, Hangar 13 – developers of Mafia 3 (and the upcoming remake) – are also currently working on new AAA open world IP.
During their investors Q&A, Take-Two also broadly laid out their plans for the next few years, stating that they currently plan on releasing a total of 93 games before April 2025. Read more on that through here.