Pete Hines Comments on the Confusion Surrounding How Bethesda Named Prey 2017: 'Don't Even Get Me Started'

When Arkane Austin delivered its cult-classic immersive sim, Prey, for PC and consoles successful 2017, not everyone astatine Bethesda Softworks was blessed shipping the sci-fi immersive sim with that name.

After Prey 2 met an untimely demise successful 2014, fans were elated to spot the bid instrumentality with a wholly caller look and consciousness with what was believed to beryllium a reboot successful 2016. The occupation was Arkane’s Prey doesn’t really person overmuch to bash with the bid it pulled its sanction from.

Instead, what fans received erstwhile Prey launched successful 2017 was thing that was much of a System Shock spiritual successor, starring galore to question wherefore it was ever named Prey successful the archetypal place. Even manager Raphael Colantonio has commented connected its rubric successful the past, saying that helium wanted to usage a antithetic sanction but was yet forced to instrumentality with it.

Former Bethesda selling brag Pete Hines, who announced his status from the institution successful 2023, spoke astir the sanction of Arkane’s now-beloved 2017 crippled during a caller interrogation with DBLTAP, saying that helium was 1 idiosyncratic astatine Bethesda who feared the baggage that the Prey sanction carried.

“Don't adjacent get maine started connected that,” Hines said erstwhile asked astir Prey’s name. “I decidedly pissed immoderate radical disconnected internally implicit that due to the fact that I fought truthful hard against utilizing that name. I'm the caput of the spear, but I had a batch of radical crossed my squad – brand, PR and assemblage – and we consciousness similar we're burdening it with a sanction wherever we walk much clip explaining wherefore it's called Prey than we bash talking astir the game.”

Hines adds that helium regrets losing the conflict to springiness the 2017 Prey a caller start. He adds, “But cipher connected this satellite could person enactment much of a bully religion effort into changing minds connected that.”

“My full constituent was, look however overmuch clip we walk talking astir what the crippled is versus wherefore it's called this and like, that is wasted energy,” Hines continued. “That is wasted excitement. We could beryllium turning that into thing positive.”

Prey is present seen arsenic 1 of the amended immersive sims for much reasons than one, but it took immoderate clip for it to execute cult-classic status. In summation to the disorder surrounding its title, game-breaking issues for PC players astatine motorboat helped tarnish its estimation retired of the gate.

Bethesda yet issued galore fixes for those connected that platform, but the harm had already been done. Tech issues astir surely wounded Prey’s commercialized performance, with Colantonio believing that its unusual sanction besides contributed to mislaid sales.

We gave the 2017 Prey crippled an 8/10 successful our review. At the time, we said, “Prey's abstraction presumption is fantastically explorable and its shape-shifting enemies support hostility erstwhile combat doesn't.”

Michael Cripe is simply a freelance writer with IGN. He's champion known for his enactment astatine sites similar The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be definite to springiness him a travel connected Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).