Dishonored maker Arkane Studios is rumoured to be building Prey 2 from scratch after Bethesda removed original developer Human Head Studios from the long-delayed project. Unconfirmed reports on Prey 2 fan site Alien Noire and Kotaku suggest Arkane’s parent company may have forced the game on the studio after a short spell in development at Obsidian proved unsuccessful and Rebellion Developments declined the chance to work on the title. It’s claimed that the game is now being built on the Dishonored engine with a new target release date of 2016. We've approached Bethesda for comment.
Last April, Bethesda denied reports that Prey 2 had been cancelled, but said it had chosen to delay the game beyond 2012 due to quality concerns. “The delay is due to the fact that game development has not progressed satisfactorily this past year, and the game does not currently meet our quality standards,” the company said. “We are determined only to release the AAA game that fans rightfully expect, and are unwilling to compromise our quality standards to meet a release schedule.” Six months later, Human Head designer Nathan Cheever said Prey 2 was "in limbo".
In a Prey 2 preview from E3 2011, we described the game as “an open world, Blade Runner-meets-Mirror’s Edge sci-fi shooter,” adding: “Our only reservation is honestly that Prey 2 sounds too good to be true.”
