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Mafia III shouldn’t be compared to GTA V, says Take-Two CEO

Mafia 3

One is a gratuitously violent free-roaming crime game, and the other is, um. The points of comparison are as easily drawn as the blood in the Mafia III reveal trailer – but Hangar 13’s ‘60s slaughterhouse is reportedly “completely different” to the San Andreas opus of sister studio Rockstar North.

A Take-Two investor listening in on the company’s earnings call yesterday asked CEO Strauss Zelnick whether Mafia III could be thought of as a Rockstar-style open-world game. The answer was no: Mafia is a “completely different experience”.

“I wouldn’t compare it to anything else out there,” said Zelnick. “The reveal was great, but it stands alone.

“We don’t use any other game in the same sentence as Grand Theft Auto,” he elaborated. “It is the industry’s standard-bearer. It’s not up for comparison.”

What’s more, Zelnick clarified that Rockstar/2K internal relations don’t extend as far as sharing engines or coding innovations.

“We’re blessed that we have two distinct labels at this company,” he said. “We do not have a tech-sharing environment. We’re a very congenial company, but we don’t think that’s the best way to get the best out of our development folks. It’s not the way it works around here.”

The call confirmed that Mafia III will arrive in 2017’s fiscal year – so, somewhere beyond April 2016. Our Joel had a play with it at Gamescom, so expect thoughts on 2K Czech’s comeback in a nearer future. What are you wanting from it?