Publisher Bethesda Softworks and developer Arkane Studios reveals how their upcoming sci-fi horror shooter "Prey" came to be, explaining its roots from the first installment.
According to Game Informer, the first "Prey" game was installed around 10 years ago, developed by Human Head Studios. A sequel, "Prey 2" was supposed to be in development, but was eventually scrapped due to the game not reaching the standards of Bethesda.
After a long while, sometime earlier this year, Bethesda made an announcement during E3 2016 that the franchise has resurfaced to make its comeback with its developer "Dishonored" series' Arkane Studios. It is, however, not a sequel to 2006's "Prey" but rather both Bethesda and Arkane Studios decide give the franchise a clean slate as a reboot, severing any ties to the previous titles of the series.
Bethesda revealed to Game Informer why they decided to bring the "Prey" franchise back after all these years. Arkane's Raphael Colantonio mention didn't really intend for the team to start off developing a new title for the franchise. What the founder and creative director had originally intended was to make a game where players were trapped and being hunted in a small space. As their ideas evolved, the team eventually thought of a space station as a perfect setting for this game's concept. Thus, the 2017 reboot of "Prey" was born.
Bethesda's vice president of PR and marketing Pete Hines also went on to add that Bethesda even like the concept of the new "Prey," even finding the title fitting to the new direction.
"We felt like, at its core, we liked the basic idea of 'Prey' and what it represented in terms of aliens and you being hunted and on the run," Hines said. "And we thought it was a cool name. If you remove for a moment the notion of any game called 'Prey' previously, we just thought it was a cool name that evoked what this game was about."
Arkane Studios was even given the complete freedom by the publisher to make the reboot title as it is now.
"In the discussions we had with Arkane, they were like, 'Look, if we can do everything that we have planned and whatever we want and not be beholden to anything anyone has done - shipped or cancelled - and just reimagine what Prey means going forward, then we're totally on board for that," states Bethesda's vice president of PR and marketing.
Hines gave the "Prey" franchise some credit for its history whether good or bad, saying that ultimate matters less since the studio pushes the series forward. He further added: "Whether Prey is good or bad is going to be entirely dependent on what those guys ship next spring."
"Prey" will be set for release sometime on 2017 on the PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Players can get to experience a varied gameplay, giving them a whole lot of customizations like choosing a female character.
