EA's CEO John Riccitello has confirmed the second instalment in the The Godfather series. The Godfather II will apparently mix GTA style gameplay with a top down RTS interface.

Riccitello revealed the sequel during a stock conference with EA investors, where he also described some of The Godfather II's main gameplay features:

"You can play this game both at the street level (much like a GTA style game) but you can also play it top down, almost like you're in an RTS controlling the strategy of the boroughs; you can see what's going on; you can play it at a very different level . . . It's a very unique and differentiated gameplay experience."

He also noted that The Godfather II is "a game that I think we'll be talking a lot about this Fall." Whether this means it's due out towards the end of the year, or that EA plans to start promoting the title during the autumn, is unclear at this point.

The Executive Producer of the first game, David DeMartini, stated that EA were planning a trilogy under the Godfather label back in 2006 (prior to the original game's release). However, since then EA has kept very quiet about its plans for the series.

Godfather II will be developed at EA's Redwood Shores studio under the auspices of Executive Producer Hunter Smith.