GTA Parent Company Take-Two Cancels An Unannounced Game, Said To Be New Superhero Title From Mafia 3 Dev

As part of Take-Two's earnings report on Wednesday, the Grand Theft Auto parent company announced that it canceled an unannounced game. The publisher did not say what this game was, however, though it did disclose that the cancellation of the game came with related costs amounting to $53 million. Following the earnings report, Bloomberg's Jason Schreier reported that the game in question was a new title from Mafia III studio Hangar 13.

According to the report, the game was in development "in various forms" since 2017 and was codenamed Volt. "The current version struggled due to reboots, technological hiccups and challenges caused by Covid-19, said the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly," the report said, adding that the title was going to feature "superheroes competing in online game play."

There will be no layoffs related to the cancellation of the game, sources told Bloomberg. Additionally, Kotaku obtained an email from Hangar 13 boss Haden Blackman that said internal tests for the game were received positively, but Take-Two ultimately decided to cancel the project as part of "industry challenges" that could make the game "commercially unviable."

"We are confident that there are many opportunities for H13 employees to work on other games in development, both at H13 and across the label," Blackman said. "2K has also assured me that the company believes H13 can deliver a critical and commercial success, and we will begin developing future projects soon."

NEWS: Take-Two/2K has canceled a new game from Hangar 13, code-named Volt, which has been in development in various forms since 2017, sources tell Bloomberg. Today's earnings suggest that the project cost $53 million. Not yet clear if there will be layoffs https://t.co/qnJkrIOnKg
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 3, 2021

Hangar 13 management told staff in a meeting this morning that there will be no layoffs following yesterday's cancellation of their big game project, sources tell Bloomberg.
— Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) November 4, 2021

Separate from this, earlier this year, the Rockstar Games website removed all references to the game Agent, a 1970s spy game that was presumed canceled, though Rockstar said never said this.

In 2020, Take-Two said it had 93 games in development, adding that it would not see them all through to release. Take-Two president Karl Slatoff said at the time, "It is likely that some of these titles will not be developed through completion and we will undoubtedly be adding new titles to our slate."

In other news, Take-Two delayed 2K's Marvel's Midnight Suns from XCOM developer Firaxis. The company also revealed that GTA V has now sold 155 million copies, while Red Dead Redemption 2 sales have climbed to 39 million.