Bethesda's parent company, Zenimax Media, have filed for an extension to the Prey trademark with the US Patents and Trademarks Office.
Zenimax submitted three separate trademarks covering aspects including television shows, online games, magazines, comics and movies as well as other possible uses for the franchise. However, there has been no announcement regarding the development of Prey 2 which was first announced in 2011 to accompany the trademark extension.
Rumours of the game's cancellation began to swirl in March 2012 when Bethesda simply issued a "no comment" statement. The following month Bethesda announced the game would be delayed stating "game development has not progressed satisfactorily this past year, and the game does not currently meet our quality standards. Prey 2 has shown great promise and we regret disappointing our fans."
In October last year the game's developer, Human Head Studios, said "Prey 2 hasn't been cancelled, [it's] only in limbo."
Prey 2 isn't the only Bethesda game facing a troubled development with it being announced last week that a "new version" of Doom 4 is in production while Rage 2 has been cancelled.
The original Prey was released in 2006.
Source: GameSpot.