Prey is an exciting game that's on the horizon (presumably) for 2017. Arkane Studios is famous for their work creating fully explorable environments with Action, Adventure, and RPG conventions with their most recent being Dishonored 2. Dishonored 2 was one of 2016's highest rated games, and while it was solid in its offering, its launch on PC left something to be desired. Unfortunately, this is a pretty common occurrence across the board.
Console versions tend to take precedence over PC versions for a multitude of reasons (no, it's nothing personal) and as a result, their optimization seems to end up near the bottom of the to-do list on the development pipeline. Arkane Studios is doing their best for this to not be the case, and in speaking with Game Informer (who is currently running an exclusive on the game), the developer is working hard to ensure that the PC version comes out strong out of the gate.
Creative Director Raphael Colantonio acknowledged the struggles of Dishonored 2 and reinforced a desire to provide a solid product on PC. He said:
"We’ve had a rough launch on the PC with Dishonored 2. In development, you never exactly know what you’re going to see, especially on the PC with so many configurations and stuff. Unfortunately it is what it is – it shipped, then it got patched and now it runs really well. Of course, we are paying double attention to make sure that this time the PC version is really flawless when we ship."
Colantonio explains that added Q&A time plus the fact that the game runs on the CryEngine are the biggest reasons for optimism that the developers feel confident in Prey's PC launch. Dishonored 2 ran on an engine that Arkane created themselves, so naturally some unforeseen issues cropped up. By investing in the licensing of an established engine, Arkane is confident that the process will be smoother so that more time can be focused on polishing the game to the point that it needs to be at launch.
Prey will release sometime in 2017 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
Source: [Game Informer via Dark Side of Gaming]
