When Arkane Austin delivered its cult-classic immersive sim, Prey, for PC and consoles in 2017, not everybody at Bethesda Softworks was pleased delivery the sci-fi immersive sim with that identify.
After Prey 2 met an premature demise in 2014, followers have been elated to see the sequence return with a totally new feel and appear with what was believed to be a reboot in 2016. The issue was Arkane’s Prey doesn’t even have a lot to do with the sequence it pulled its identify from.
As an alternative, what followers acquired when Prey launched in 2017 was one thing that was extra of a System Shock non secular successor, main many to query why it was ever named Prey within the first place. Even director Raphael Colantonio has commented on its title previously, saying that he needed to make use of a distinct identify however was ultimately pressured to keep it up.
Former Bethesda advertising and marketing boss Pete Hines, who introduced his retirement from the corporate in 2023, spoke in regards to the identify of Arkane’s now-beloved 2017 sport throughout a latest interview with DBLTAP, saying that he was one particular person at Bethesda who feared the luggage that the Prey identify carried.
“Do not even get me began on that,” Hines mentioned when requested about Prey’s identify. “I positively pissed some folks off internally over that as a result of I fought so exhausting towards utilizing that identify. I am the pinnacle of the spear, however I had lots of people throughout my staff – model, PR and neighborhood – and we really feel like we’re burdening it with a reputation the place we spend extra time explaining why it is known as Prey than we do speaking in regards to the sport.”
Hines provides that he regrets dropping the battle to provide the 2017 Prey a recent begin. He provides, “However no person on this planet might have put extra of a superb religion effort into altering minds on that.”
“My entire level was, look how a lot time we spend speaking about what the sport is versus why it is known as this and like, that’s wasted vitality,” Hines continued. “That’s wasted pleasure. We could possibly be turning that into one thing constructive.”
Prey is now seen as one of many higher immersive sims for extra causes than one, however it took a while for it to attain cult-classic standing. Along with the confusion surrounding its title, game-breaking points for PC gamers at launch helped tarnish its repute out of the gate.
Bethesda ultimately issued quite a few fixes for these on that platform, however the injury had already been finished. Tech points virtually definitely damage Prey’s industrial efficiency, with Colantonio believing that its unusual identify additionally contributed to misplaced gross sales.
We gave the 2017 Prey sport an 8/10 in our overview. On the time, we mentioned, “Prey’s house station is fantastically explorable and its shape-shifting enemies keep pressure when fight does not.”
Michael Cripe is a contract author with IGN. He is greatest recognized for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Make sure to give him a observe on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).