b&jy77VjiKn$#F
Member
If that email wasn't leaked, would you call him a prick? Just asking.
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Kotaku: Bethesda is misleading gamers about Prey 2, Arkane is in fact making game
- Thread starter Quentyn
- Start date
If that email wasn't leaked, would you call him a prick? Just asking.
Metroidvania
People called Romanes they go the house?
Wow. Somehow, I'd missed the broader details of the Bethesda/Zenimax acquisition one-two combo.
It should't really surprise me, given the stuff I do know they pulled with Obsidian and the like re: FO:NV and other games, but that kind of corporate absorption scheme is brutal.
edit: Of course, who knows what the defining criteria was for Prey 2 (and other games), but from what I remember, I really liked what I saw of Human Head's work.
It should't really surprise me, given the stuff I do know they pulled with Obsidian and the like re: FO:NV and other games, but that kind of corporate absorption scheme is brutal.
edit: Of course, who knows what the defining criteria was for Prey 2 (and other games), but from what I remember, I really liked what I saw of Human Head's work.
Welp, now I don't want to support Bethesda.
After reading this, N8triot's posts, the letter from the Russian developers, the interview with the InXile (sp?) guy, etc etc. Bethesda is gross.
I'm not saying the guy is biased but.. as a business, you cannot give a company an unlimited amount of time making a game.
Yep. I honestly can't fathom why zenimax is going through the trouble for a game to an IP no one remembers/cares about.
This might have been asked already but wasn't dishonored made by arkane's French studio? Really hope this doesn't affect d2's development.
Devolution
Member
There's some shady shit when outsourcing is involved.
SJRB
Gold Member
This whole affair is one of the dumbest things I ever witnessed. All this pseudo-secrecy, drama, dodging and blatant lying. And for what? Prey 2, for fucks sake. Nobody cares about the Prey IP.
The infamous E3 demo got a lot of people interested, sure, but let's not pretend "Prey" is such a mindblowing IP that a sequel will shatter the Earth or something. It seems they are somewhat overestimating the relevance of this title.
The infamous E3 demo got a lot of people interested, sure, but let's not pretend "Prey" is such a mindblowing IP that a sequel will shatter the Earth or something. It seems they are somewhat overestimating the relevance of this title.
But what if WET 2 was a spiritual successor to System Shock?
I wouldn't go so far but the people that care about the Prey IP (myself included) will end up with a game that is nothing like Prey. Human Head's version was already anything but what I expect from Prey 2 and Arkane will do no better with a System Shock clone. Just let the franchise die.
IrishNinja
Member
good on m'man jschreier, kotaku gettin this work
why cant i find the regular show 10's gif when i need it
why cant i find the regular show 10's gif when i need it
good on m'man jschreier, kotaku gettin this work
why cant i find the regular show 10's gif when i need it
This what you are looking for?
IrishNinja
Member
that'll do
NingenJanai
Member
If they are truly doing a System Shock spiritual successor I hope they don't call it Prey 2, I hate series reboots with a number, they should call it just Prey, or maybe Prey something something, but please don't call it Prey 2.
Prey 1 was a pretty generic shooter with 1 or 2 neat gimmicks in every level.
IMO a game in the vein of System Shock is a lot more interesting premise, and I don't see why Arkane couldn't pull that off as all their games have been that same Thief/System/Shock/Ultima Underworld type of game.
Also, it doesn't really matter if Prey wasn't the most beloved IP ever, a known property still sells better than a new IP.
This is pretty bad if true.
ElRenoRaven
Member
You know as a fan of Prey 1 who had a lot of fun with it in spite of it's flaws like never being able to die, Any game that doesn't continue where 1 ended isn't Prey 2. It's not. I don't care what anyone says.
I know a lot of people have been speculating about our motives behind this story. So I wrote this comment that will hopefully clear things up: http://kotaku.com/let-me-just-clear-something-up-since-i-know-a-lot-of-p-1153418136
Neuromancer
Member
Just the kind of explanation a press sneak fuck would write...
Lactose_Intolerant
Member
yep, more companies should talk about their unannounced products
They should. This day in age, with marketing and word of mouth being what it is on the internet, the adherence to strict secrecy is a damaging and unnecessary holdover from an era of marketing long gone.
Well the accusation from the Human Head side has been that Bethesda frequently starts to reject the milestones of studios they want to buy in order to put them in a bad financial situation and pick them up on the cheap.
Since quality standards is a nebulous bar, they can reject any milestones they want via this method.
I would hope that milestones are defined contractually before development begins. I would hope...
It still makes me chuckle when I hear about 'quality standards' from Bethesda. I know, it's supposedly just their excuses for refusing milestones but it still makes me laugh that this is the same company that released Rogue Warrior, one of the worst FPS released this gen.
Wonder if this happened to Machine Games in 2010. Or did they form under Bethesda? At any rate, I hope the recent Wolfenstein delay isn't Bethesda doing something nefarious and that it actually does just need some polishing.
Tatsumaki Senpuukyaku!
Member
Living up to the prey legacy i see
CambriaRising
Member
I'll buy it if its good. Don't much care about the pub lying about the game's development to try to control the reannouncement. It's probably not super uncommon.
Outside of the game industry, if you are funding someone elses work you always have clauses in your contract to reject milestones for quality reasons. Nor do you set up a rubric in the contract to define what is good and bad quality, because then the contractor can game the system.
There appears to be a huge difference though in the games industry in that the developers are not financially sound. The check on the funders power in most industries is a lawsuit, but those can take years to resolve. There appear to be very few independent developers who can survive long enough to actually win a court case (winning most likely being a settlement out of court.) With developers having such poor stable cashflow, an unscrupulous publisher can simply always just wait out the other company until it fails.
It is also important to note that the publisher does have internal incentives to behave ethically in most cases. Sure they have all the incentive in the world to throw their weight around, but not to the point of sabotaging their own project and killing their business partners.
Typically this is true, however, if a corporation is known for hostile take-overs this(killing business partners) is actually what you do.
Neuromancer
Member
In all fairness they seem to be going after a higher quality of games to publish these days.
TiredGamer
Member
I couldn't resist, considering the topic. =P
No idea what happened here, but I had heard MachineGames was initially working on a new IP. Perhaps that turned into Wolfenstein.
Spring-Loaded
Member
That's pretty much what they do.
Don't know how anyone from Bethesda/ZeniMax can act indignant with a straight when their extortionist methods are discussed. If it's (maybe) legal for them to pull that, then it's certainly acceptable for people to drag them over the coals for it.
Really the revenue stream of the entire game industry is fundamentally broken. This is just one of the many examples and you are exactly right.
Ah okay.
IdreamofHIME
Member
Arkane are the guys who made Dishonored, right? Man, that was one ugly game. Nice art style, but the style was hiding some truly awful graphics.
How can they be in charge of Prey2? that was looking so beautiful
How can they be in charge of Prey2? that was looking so beautiful
Arkane are the guys who made Dishonored, right? Man, that was one ugly game. Nice art style, but the style was hiding some truly awful graphics.
How can they be in charge of Prey2? that was looking so beautiful
Awful? I thought the game was pretty damn good visually. Had a nice water color style to it.
Arkane are the guys who made Dishonored, right? Man, that was one ugly game. Nice art style, but the style was hiding some truly awful graphics.
How can they be in charge of Prey2? that was looking so beautiful
I thought Dishonored had good graphics personally.
I agree with all of this, so I guess my theory is that they don't give a shit about Prey 2, really. The secrecy is just to keep the 'sneak fucks' from enquiring too closely into what shit went down with Human Head, and if it was, as has been suggested, a highly shady attempted takeover thwarted.
Perhaps Bethesda think that If they keep things quiet enough, it'll all disappear down the memory hole. Maybe there is a story possible here, but only right now - who's going to give a monkeys about what may or may not have happened in 6 months time, or a year?
Remember when GRIM said this about abusing milestones by Square Enix?
What probably happened is, they tried a hostile take-over, and when it didnt work there was probably contractual issues with still using the property created by human head. So their only way to finish was to restart the project. This is the only way, what they are doing makes sense. They are a private company, they would have no reason to take a hit like that, unless they didn't have a huge choice in the matter,otherwise, they would have to be pretty dumb.
Hear, hear. This culture of corporate silence is so sickening.