Report: Dishonored Developer Arkane Takes Control of Prey 2

27
Lee Bradley

Prey 2 no longer being developed by Human Head and has instead changed hands to Arkane Studios, say the latest reports.

The long-in-development and troubled follow-up to 2006’s Prey has endured rumours of cancellation and suspension, following its announcement in 2011.

Now, however, it seems that Dishonored developer Arkane has taken charge of the Bethesda-owned project.

According to the report, the team at Arkane has been told to “forget that it’s called Prey 2 and just treat it like a new System Shock.” Arkane is staffed by several members of Looking Glass, the outfit that created System Shock. In turn, System Shock is a spiritual predecessor to the BioShock series.

Perhaps the craziest part of this rumour, however, is that the game is now slated for a 2016 release, suggesting that most of the work done on the game so far is being thrown out the window. It also points to an Xbox One release.

What work has been done so far, we don’t know, but the report does claim that the game has bounced from studio to studio. Apparently, Obsidian had its hands on the title for a little while, and Rebellion were offered the project but turned it down.

So whatever state the game was in when it turned up at Arkane’s door, if indeed it has shown up at Arkane’s door, is likely a mess. A fresh start might be just what the project needs.

The rumour comes from two sources: Kotaku and Alien Noire.

Comments
27
  • Fucking fuck. I want this now.
  • While I like Arkane, and what they did with Dishonored, I don't see how this news can bode well for Prey 2.
  • The E3 demo looked great. Hopefully this new version can live up to the expectations set by that demo. Arkane can do it. Dishonored wasn't fantastic in my opinion, but the gameplay was smooth and the mechanics were solid.
  • Meh, I forgot all about the game anyway..
  • Duke Nukem Forever /
  • I was so looking forward to this game. The E3 demo looked amazing indeed. Not too sure starting from scratch is a good sign. Unless it's more about the programming and stuff rather than the style and gameplay. We'll see.
  • oh well, i really like prey. one of my early games for xbox 360.
  • yeah i wanted this game ages ago when it was promised. i wouldve taken a project finished by rebellion also.
  • Trollage to da max bitches!!!!
  • Only 3 more years!! Wait...
  • The game looked great in what they showed before. Why did they even need to do this? It's like with XCOM--we saw a great game, then it went into Development Purgatory and they completely changed it.
  • I can't even care anymore.
  • Very disappointed. Prey 2 been for long time since first announced. :( Prey 2 got me so much hype in early time of when announced but then delayed by Bethesda for problem reasons. Now 2016. Well let hope most of us not dying before Prey 2 arrive. :/
  • 2016... Man. The demos I saw looked amazing. This sucks. It seemed like a perfect mix of Mass Effect, Brink(if it was good), and Deus Ex.
  • "...treat it like a new System Shock." Heh. I wonder what a list of the most influential title of the past 20 years looks like. Gotta include Music on the Playstation for the IRL msuic people it inspired (Skream, Hudson Mohawke, Lone) and Time Crisis or Kill*Switch for innovating the cover-based shooters.
  • I want to play prey again But i really want to play Prey 2. atlease it isnt dead.
  • I remember I looked up the game shortly after getting Skyrim demo looked incredibly good and had so much potential. With this news it seems like this will be an entirely different game which sucks.
  • 2016? Really?
  • I'm just thanking God the consistently worst developer in the industry, Obsidian, didn't get final control of this, that would have been awful. The game would have ended up glitchy, rushed, and terrible and then somehow it wouldn't be their fault. I'm tired of their excuses, take responsibility for the fact you suck at your job Obsidian Entertainment! ..sorry, rant over. lol
  • If this is coming out in 2016 it will still come out for Xbox 360 since the 360 is supposedly being supported until 2017.
  • While Im usually weary of games getting tossed around and turning out like crap. Bioshock 2 is the most recent example I can think of. This I am okay with Arkane has shown they can make a good game. As if the talent behind the team wasn't already enough to convince me. Dishonored made me have even more faith in them. Hopefully they still plan on going with the open world idea that HumanHead originally had. That's the only thing I would want to stay the same.
  • Maybe they will actually make a TRUE sequel, not the one that was shown "in the Prey Universe"....
  • My only qualm is I want Dishonored 2. On the other hand, they won't feel burnt out on the world of Dunwall and Arkane is being given premium treatment with the trust of an existing series (granted a long dormant one) and they're being encouraged to work in a direction that they are inclined toward anyhow. This is a great development imo and I'm looking forward to this :)
  • Still waiting for this game...
  • When this happens to games they normally turn out to be not so good. Look at Aliens colonial marines and Duke nukem. Hopefully this wont be the case, Prey was a really good game and maybe the time Prey 2 has been in development hell wont do much damage
  • I want to see Prey come back on Steam. I have no idea what's going on with the rights issues with that and it's bugging me. In terms of this game I think it will turn out fine if done by Arkane. As long as it doesn't turn into this development hell game and they actually use their time wisely.
  • @24 yeah me to. also waiting for Dreamkiller. wish they would release it as a digital download.
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