It’s likely that we’ll never really know what’s been happening behind the scenes with Prey 2. The open-world project that centered on space bounty hunters had the industry abuzz after its initial demo, which is a great feat considering the lukewarm reception of the original game. However, the title has been put on ice for quite some time – even if one of the game’s former developers claims that the current-gen experience was both “great fun” and more than just a tech demo.
After the rumors began to swirl that the Dishonored developers, Arkane Studios, had taken over Prey 2 development for Human Head, former narrative designer and writer for the game, Jason Blair, took to Twitter to shine some light on the situation.
"I've worked at / with [Human Head] for years, including different stages of Prey 2 development," Blair wrote. "I was narrative designer / writer on Prey 2 for the last six months of its development at Human Head. It was a lot more than a demo. Prey 2 was a full game. And a crazy fun one. The team was small but you wouldn't have known it.”
Bethesda had claimed that the sudden halt was because the game just wasn’t progressing in a satisfactory manner, but Blair argues that there were more “petty” reasons holding it back.
"What happened to Prey 2, from where I sat, was political. And petty. And potentially litigable. Human Head had a great game,” he continued. "I was heartbroken when Prey 2 went into limbo. Human Head deserved to have that game released. Frankly, they needed it."
We’ll probably see Prey 2 make it to the market in the future. What it looks like, though, is really anyone’s guess at this point.