IGN Isn’t Reviewing Mafia III Early, and 2K is To Blame

IGN editor reveals why there is no early review of Mafia 3.
IGN editor reveals why there is no early review of Mafia 3.

If you’re a fan of the Mafia series and you’re pumped for Mafia 3, it may be a good idea to view some early reviews, right? Well, for the anxious fans who turn to IGN for early reviews, they’re not going to find what they are looking for, because Mafia 3’s review is nowhere to be found on IGN. Is there a reason why? According to IGN editor Dan Stapleton, there is.

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In Stapleton’s words:

“We always shoot to get our opinions of all the big games up in time to help inform your day-one purchase decision. But sometimes our access to games is limited for one reason or another, and we can’t review what we can’t play.”

This is a logical explanation, but it doesn’t fully explain why they didn’t get early access. Was there a bigger issue with 2K Games, perhaps? Stapleton goes on by explaining more about Mafia 3’s publisher.

“In this case, Mafia’s publisher, 2K Games, has declined our request for a pre-release copy of Mafia 3 to play ahead of time – and, in fact, does not intend to provide advance review copies to anyone. While we strongly protest this decision, review copies are submitted voluntarily and it is a publisher’s choice to make whether to do so.”

If Stapleton is telling the truth, then IGN isn’t at fault. His statement suggests that they did try to review Mafia 3 before it’s official launch date, but were unable to. They may not be happy about it, but that won’t stop them from reviewing the game when it’s released this week. 

“Therefore, we will start our Mafia 3 review early on Thursday morning as soon as copies unlock for the public in New Zealand. Because this is a large, open-world game and we intend to give it a fair, full review treatment regardless of 2K’s decision not to cooperate, we expect we’ll need to put in quite a few hours of play before we can finalize our review. You can look for us to wrap it up sometime next week, depending on how long a game it turns out to be.”

Even after the setback, Stapleton is assuring everyone that IGN will get right on Mafia 3 this upcoming Thursday, the game’s release day. Fans who are unable to purchase it the first day, or for those who wish to read reviews before breaking out sixty bucks for game may want to wait and listen to what reviews say. 

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