Prey 2

Prey 2
Developer(s)	Human Head Studios
Publisher(s)	Bethesda Softworks
Distributor(s)	ZeniMax Media
Composer(s)	Jason Graves Mark Morgan
Engine	id Tech 4
Platforms	Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date(s)	Cancelled
Genre(s)	First-person shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player

Prey 2 is a cancelled first-person shooter video game published by Bethesda Softworks. It would have been the sequel to the 2006 video game Prey.

Plot

The story of Prey 2 was to focus on U.S. Marshal Killian Samuels, who starts the game on a passenger flight which suddenly crashes onto the Sphere (the crash is shown in the original Prey). At the end of a short battle with some aliens he is knocked unconscious, after which the plot jumps forward several years. Samuels is now a bounty hunter on the alien world Exodus. Though he is aware of his profession and has retained his skills, he has no memory of what happened in the time that passed since his abduction. He initially believes himself to be the only human on Exodus until he runs into Domasi "Tommy" Tawodi (the protagonist of the original Prey), whom he has apparently met in the period he no longer remembers. Killian then resumes his bounty hunter activities while recovering his memory.

Development

The sequel to 2006 game Prey was officially announced on March 14, 2011 as being developed by Human Head Studios using heavily modified Id Tech 4 engine. "We are thrilled to be working with Bethesda on Prey 2", said Chris Rhinehart, project lead. "Prey 2 will provide gamers the opportunity to explore a new facet of the Prey universe, one that offers fast-paced action in an open, alien world. We're excited to show gamers the title we have been working on and hope they will be as excited by this title as we are."

Prey 2 was announced once before; shortly after the release of Prey, 3D Realms' Scott Miller confirmed that a sequel named Prey 2 was already in development. On March 17, 2008, Miller's brand-management group Radar Group was officially launched, along with the announcement that it is managing Prey 2, and that it slated for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The rights were later transferred from Radar to Bethesda Softworks. According to Pete Hines, the vice president of PR and marketing at Bethesda, the current version of the game is what the developers wanted to make and not what has been announced before by the Radar Group.

On March 23, 2012, Dutch gaming website PS Focus reported a rumour that Prey 2 has been cancelled by ZeniMax Media. When asked, Bethesda Softworks reported with no comment regarding the rumour on their Twitter page. On April 19, 2012, Bethesda stated Prey 2 will not be cancelled, but instead it will not make its scheduled 2012 release. This was because "the game's development has not progressed satisfactorily this past year and the game does not currently meet [their] quality standards.". On August 20, 2012 the game was removed from the products page on Bethesda's website. A spokesperson from Bethesda informed Eurogamer that until they're ready to talk about the game more, the focus on the site is on their upcoming titles.

In May 2013 Kotaku reported rumors that development has moved to Arkane Studios and that the development has been rebooted scrapping all of Human Head Studios work and with a targeted release of 2016. It has also been reported that Obsidian Entertainment worked on the game at one point for at least a few months. In August 2013 Bethesda Softworks' Pete Hines denied rumors that Arkane Studios was working on the game. However, on August 15, 2013, it was reported that leaked emails confirmed the game was in fact in development.

On October 30, 2014 during PAX Australia, it was confirmed by Bethesda Softworks vice president Pete Hines that Prey 2 had subsequently been cancelled. Pete Hines statement as follows, “It was a game we believed in, but we never felt that it got to where it needed to be – we never saw a path to success if we finished it. It wasn’t up to our quality standard, and we decided to cancel it. It’s no longer in development. That wasn’t an easy decision, but it’s one that won’t surprise many folks given that we hadn’t been talking about it. Human Head Studios is no longer working on it. It’s a franchise we still believe we can do something with — we just need to see what that something is.” Tim Gerritsen, business development director at Human Head Studios, said, "While we are disappointed that we won’t be able to deliver our vision of the game, we remain proud of our work on the franchise, which we feel speaks for itself, including the award-winning presentation of the game at E3 2011. We enjoyed working with the many talented people at Bethesda, and we wish them all the best of luck with any future plans they may have for the franchise."

External links

• Official site

• AngryGamer.ru (Russian)
• Bethesda Announces Prey 2 for PC, PS3, 360 GameFront, March 14, 2011 (Article by Ron Whitaker)