Mafia III is an developed by and published by . It was released in October 2016 for , , and , and in May 2017 for . It is the sequel to and the third installment in the . Set within the fictional city of New Bordeaux (based on ) in 1968, the story follows former criminal and Lincoln Clay, who is forced to return to a life of crime and aims to build his own organisation while seeking revenge on the .
The development of Mafia III began soon after Mafia II's release, but initially had problems. , the developer of the series' first installments, oversaw restructure, with much of the development team assigned to the company's new studio, Hangar 13. After deciding on recreating New Orleans in 1968, the development team drew influence from the series' previous projects, and designed the game around Clay to replicate the core structure of its predecessors. Much of the development work constituted the open world's creation, and several team members conducted field research around Louisiana to capture footage for the design team. The game's soundtrack features several licensed songs composed by various musicians who were active during the time period.
Upon release, the game received mixed reviews, with praise directed at its story, characters, darker themes, and soundtrack. However, some of the gameplay mechanics and the presence of technical issues drew criticism. The game was a commercial success, shipping five million copies worldwide. A version of the game comprised with additional story packs, entitled Mafia III: Definitive Edition, was released on 19 May 2020. The Definitive Edition was also included in the Mafia: Trilogy pack, released on 25 September 2020.
