After
weeks of speculation that the company had cancelled
Prey 2, Bethesda dispelled those rumors on Thursday morning and said it had delayed the game beyond its 2012 release date due to quality issues.
When asked if it had severed ties with the game's developer Human Head Studios, the published told Gamasutra it is not yet ready to discuss the matter or any other details about the game beyond what it had announced regarding the delay.
"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," said Bethesda's global PR director Tracey Thompson in a statement.
"We have made a substantial investment in game development to deliver the experience fans want," Thompson added. "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."
Last month reports emerged that Bethesda shelved
Prey 2, which was originally announced in 2008.
Bethesda chose not to confirm or deny those rumors at the time, and remained silent on the subject until today.
Human Head has not posted any news about
Prey 2 on its official site or Facebook page since June 2011, when it demonstrated the game at E3. The Madison, Wisconsin-based developer has, however, published frequent updates about its
Rune series since then, and has even polled fans about potentially producing a sequel for the franchise.
Additionally, representatives from Human Head were set to talk at March's Game Developers Conference about the making of
Prey 2, but those plans were canceled prior to the show's opening.
The original
Prey, which was published by 2K Games, also suffered a number of setbacks during its development. 3D Realms began working on the game in 1995, and put the game on hold multiple times due to technical issues. It began working with Human Head in 2001 to complete the game, and
Prey eventually shipped for Windows and Xbox 360 in 2006, selling a million copies within two months.
Prey 2 is expected to release for Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. Bethesda has not specified if it will ship the game in 2013 or a later year.
