Apparently, no one is more disappointed with the setbacks with Prey 2 than Bethesda themselves. In an interview with IGN, Bethesda gave the latest news on Prey 2, explaining that the game just wasn’t good enough.
After spending millions of dollars, the game still just isn’t up to the quality standards set by Bethesda. As explained:
It’s simply not good enough. We’re not going to just proceed blindly with something that isn’t good enough. We’ve been very specific about why, and we’ve been very specific about the whats. When that gets addressed and changed or whatever, at that point we can give an update. But nobody’s disappointment is greater than ours. We spent a lot of time and money and effort trying to make this thing happen and support folks, but at the same time, you just can’t keep throwing money at it and saying, ‘sure, it’ll eventually work.’ You have to have the discipline to say, ‘it’s not good enough. It’s not hitting the quality bar. Why isn’t it? We’ve been at this for a while, and what we have is not what we talked about.’ So that’s where we are.
While they know there’s a lot of passion and support for Prey 2 from the gaming community, it just isn’t practical at this point. As much as people like to point fingers at publishers and blame them for crushing developers, it’s hard to paint that picture here. It seems that Bethesda just had to make a tough call regarding finances; it’s simply not good business practice to keep throwing money at something that doesn’t seem viable. There are rumors about it being some sort of personal conflict, to which the response was:
I think all of the stuff that you’ve heard at this point has been from one side of this, and it’s been somebody putting spin on it, like, ‘here’s what happened.’ No, that’s your version of what you think happened. I haven’t heard from anybody yet that actually sat in the room. There are quite a few folks at Human Head that I really like. Chris Rhinehart is one of the nicest guys I have ever met in this industry. He’s somebody I would consider a friend. I love hanging out with him. This isn’t anything to do with anything personal. I love that guy. I like a lot of the folks up there. It just has to do more with what the product looks like and if it’s good enough. As we said in our last update, it’s not good enough. It’s not where it needs to be.
Is it a shame? Definitely. Does it make sense? Of course. However, I think we’d be more upset if they released a sham of a game and called it Prey 2. At least this means that if the game ever emerges from the deep freeze, it will be up to a certain standard of quality. But if and until that ever happens, just forget that it was ever in development.
Last Updated: June 21, 2013
Captain Minion TallTwit
June 21, 2013 at 12:22
Better not release a terrible game, so makes sense to me.
P.S The header cat looks like my old cat. *Sniff* :<
Admiral Chief Groot Wors
June 21, 2013 at 12:31
Header, so much of lulz
Brady miaau
June 21, 2013 at 12:33
indeed.
Reminds me of home!
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
June 21, 2013 at 12:31
Kudos to them for being able to admit they can’t release what they have. That takes a lotof guts. Something most other game developers don’t have. Others will release regardless of quality and hope for the best.
It’s a pitty but as you said Zoe, rather later when it is good enough than now when it’s bad and simply because they want to try and recover costs
Trevor Davies
June 21, 2013 at 12:35
If they released this game in a poor state they’d still get the sales now, but they’ve realised that their next projects will suffer for it, because people don’t really like being burnt.
Sir Rants-a-Lot Llew
June 21, 2013 at 13:16
Wish more game companies would think that logically
Anon A Mouse
June 21, 2013 at 12:45
If it’s not hitting the yay vote on Bethesda’s QA then this must be one awful crappy game.
Parker
June 21, 2013 at 12:49
Bethesda are full of shit. Remember that guy’s tweets where he said that the game was finished, and rocked? And take into account that Zenimax are known for fucking with their developers, Arkane for instance, and I find it very hard to believe that Prey 2 didn’t meet their benchmark.
Johan du Preez
June 21, 2013 at 16:01
Rather cancel the game than release the next colonial marines, Bethesda I tip my hat to you!
Kirk Lazarus
June 21, 2013 at 18:44
Jeez, what a bunch of lemmings… no disrespect. The real truth will reveal itself with time if people really want it. The only reason Bethesda spoke up finally was to deflect the latest negative exposure. Bethesda was 100% behind the project for over 2 years… then a handful of months later they suddenly drop the whole thing because absolutely nothing could be done to save it? And then they sit on it for a year and a half without telling anyone anything? Human Head hasn’t officially said anything because Zenimax has an army of lawyers.
Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim
June 21, 2013 at 19:18
WHAT DO YOU MEAN, “YOU PEOPLE?”
Kirk Lazarus
June 21, 2013 at 19:23
I didn’t mean anything with malice… it’s depressing to constantly see Bethesda get their way while the underdog gets sat on.
Exalted Overlord Geoffrey Tim
June 21, 2013 at 22:05
I was kidding, chap. Referring to your user name. 😉
http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0062597/
Kirk Lazarus
June 25, 2013 at 07:14
heh, yes… it is a good one 😉