Bethesda and id Software parent company ZeniMax Media now owns the rights to 3D Realms’ Prey – could the company be looking to breathe new life into the FPS franchise?
Prey took some 11 years to come out, but at least it did. Another 3D Realms production, Duke Nukem Forever, well, we all know how that ended. Sadly Prey didn’t make much of a splash among gamers, though it certainly wasn’t for lack of trying. Do we forget that this Cherokee-mythology-inspired FPS had portals before Portal?
Well ZeniMax Media hasn’t forgotten about Prey. The company, which is the parent company of big names like Bethesda and id, has swooped up the rights to the franchise from Radar Group, the brand management company headed by former 3D Realms staffer Scott Miller. Internet copyright supersleuth Superannuation spotted the filing, along with trademarks filed by ZeniMax for Prey as well.
Which obviously begs the question: Is ZeniMax looking to make a new Prey game? Prey 2 already exists, in some form, having been announced last year as being in development over at Human Head Studios, who did the core work on what became the first Prey. So perhaps ZeniMax is just taking over the rights so that it can have one of its imprints publish Human Head’s Prey 2, or maybe they’re farming the entire franchise over to one of its companies.
Recent evidence that Human Head landed a big contract for a “AAA” game with a publisher might suggest that the studio is indeed working on Prey 2, but who knows. I wouldn’t mind seeing id develop a Prey game, that’s for sure.
