Will Mafia: Definitive Edition Revitalize the Gangster Genre in Gaming?
There was a time when mafia and gangster content was everywhere, from films to gaming. In the 2000s, the entertainment industry was treated to classic movies like Snatch, The Departed, and American Gangster. Gamers could play Mafia, The Godfather, The Getaway, and many other memorable titles. In recent years, though, the gangster genre seems to have taken a backseat and been surpassed by other themes. Could it be that the recently released Mafia: Definitive Edition will help bring back this once much-loved genre?
Mafia: Definitive Edition Met With Positive Reviews
The 2002 gangster offering, Mafia, from Illusion Softworks and Gathering of Developers is one of the seminal gangster games and arguably kicked off the genre in gaming throughout the 2000s. It took inspiration from some of the greatest films ever made, including The Godfather and Goodfellas, and gave players a true sense of what it would have been like to work for the mob in the 1930s.
Many gamers would put Mafia on their list of the most important games for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox, and it seemed inevitable that the game would one day be remastered for today’s high-powered consoles. In 2020, Hangar 13 and 2K Games decided to give players what they wanted and released Mafia: Definitive Edition.
This new offering wasn’t simply a remastering of the old game, however. The developer decided to rebuild the 2002 title from the ground up. This meant that they could keep a lot of what made the old game so popular, but also add in new details, missions, characters, and more. This enabled Hangar 13 to recapture the essence of what made the first game memorable but also meant that it could create something new and improved that would appeal to today’s audiences.
The reviews for the remake of Mafia have been strong. Destructoid gave it a score of 9/10 and IGN praised the vibrant and beautiful city which was “oozing with 1930s atmosphere.” Sales have been strong as well, with the game reaching number three in the UK sales chart in its first week.
Gap in the Market for Mafia Slots
When the original Mafia was released in 2002, it sparked a flurry of gangster games not only on console but on other platforms as well. This included the online game, Mafia Wars, from Zynga in 2008, and the early mobile offering, Gangstar: Crime City, from Gameloft that same year.
The gaming scene has changed a lot in the nearly twenty years since Mafia came out, and there are new platforms now that didn’t exist back then. One of the most notable gaming sectors now is online slots, where developers often take inspiration from console games when designing their titles.
Looking at the list of daily jackpots at Royal Panda, there is a vast range of genres for players to choose from. However, the only gangster offering on the site is Red Tiger’s 5 Families. This Godfather-inspired epic has huge jackpots and is a popular game among players. Thanks to the attention that this game has received, along with the release of Mafia: Definitive Edition, it wouldn’t be surprising to see the gangster genre come into fashion in the online slots sector. If this happens, it would doubtlessly spill out on to mobile as well.
Judging by how the original Mafia brought about an influx of gangster games over the decade that followed it, the newly rebooted edition could have the same effect on today’s gaming industry. There are now a greater number of platforms that the genre could spill on to, with slots sites being a likely place to find gangster content in the years ahead.
