Players are threatening to boycott Mafia: The Old Country after its playtime was recently revealed. Fans of the long-running Mafia series are unhappy with the short length of the new game from Hangar 13.

How Long Is Mafia: The Old Country? 10 Hours, Reportedly

According to a new report, you might be able to beat Mafia: The Old Country in 10.5 hours. In a recent interview, Hangar 13 confirmed that the game’s length is similar to the remake of the series’ first title. “

We’re not saying a specific number of chapters or minutes of cutscenes, but it’s very, very similar to Mafia: Definitive Edition.” According to HowLongToBeat, Mafia: Definitive Edition takes 10 hours to complete its story, and 13 hours with side quests. So if this is an accurate comparison, The Old Country is indeed really short.

This isn’t the first time Mafia: The Old Country’s short playtime has been up for debate. Back in May, 2K President David Ismailer commented:

“We think there’s a large audience for compelling stories that don’t require massive time commitments. We’re excited to offer a game like Mafia: The Old Country in our portfolio. To provide a linear, highly polished narrative experience that can easily complement the other more persistent games our players also love and engage with on a more consistent basis.”

So it appears that Hangar 13 has been preparing us for a shorter Mafia game in the lead-up to the project’s marketing. The 10-hour playtime for Mafia: The Old Country isn’t that surprising, given that the title is only $50 at launch. The game’s developer has also continually emphasized that it is a “linear narrative” experience.

Full reviews for The Old Country are still not out yet, either, so there is still a chance that its playtime is a bit longer than what’s being reported by the developer. Still, some fans of the Mafia franchise were not happy with its potentially short playtime.

Players Threaten to Boycott The Old Country Over its length

Following claims that Mafia: The Old Country takes around 10.5 hours to beat, players took to social media to voice their frustrations. Many argued that even at the $50 price tag, the game was too short to justify picking up. Others stated that they wouldn’t be buying it or would wait for it to go on sale.

“That sounds like a glorified demo. Hard pass,” a user wrote on X, for example. Another commenter exclaimed, “Oof. That’s pretty short. I’d bet that competent players and not ‘reviewers’ would beat it in single-digit hours. That’s too short.”

One player vented, “13 hours WITH side quests from a big company is crazy small. That’s indie dev-level length.” Not everyone was upset, though. Some fans argued that it was a quality-over-quantity scenario.

As for my 2 cents, I’m actually down with a 10-hour Mafia story. Perhaps it’s because I’m approaching my late 30s, but I’m growing increasingly fatigued with 100-hour games. There are just too many, and not enough time to play them!

As a big Mafia fan though, I do have to admit I’ll miss the open-world design. As much as I’m tired of lengthy open-world projects, I’m a sucker for sandbox titles. And outside of GTA 6, there aren’t any games in the genre that I’m looking forward to.

Still, Mafia: The Old Country has sparked an interesting debate about what players expect from a AAA game in terms of total playtime.