Well, this is something new. Human Head Studios, who have developed and just released Rune 2 yesterday on the Epic Games Store as an exclusive release, today announced their studio was shutting down. At the same time, Bethesda announced it was founding a new game studio, Roundhouse Studios, which would be fully populated by the Human Head Studios' staff, left unemployed from the closure of that developing label. While it's obviously great that in effect nobody was left unemployed... Does this "make sense much"?

It does. However, there are some interesting tidbits to this story. One of the more pressing questions is: how will Rune 2 be supported in the future? That question wasn't addressed by now Roundhouse Studios Creative Director Chris Rhinehart - we just assume the game has been released in an "as is" state and it doesn't matter whether there are some breaking bugs in that release. Any reported bug will be filed under "no developer found; won't fix". There are also some more interesting nuances to this deal, though. You might remember Human Head Studios previously worked on Prey 2, with Bethesda acting as publisher, but was removed from the project after the studio declined Bethesda's offer to buy Human Head Studios. This action cost the studio the IP, and led them towards development of Rune 2. However, all of that bad blood has seemingly been left behind them, according to press releases from both parties. You can read those after the break.

Since Prey 2 is stuck in neutral rumors of an incarnation to Rune seem to be gaining momentum. Human Head Studios has been dropping hints of a Rune revival. Now that Prey 2 is likely pulled from the studio's slate, the company is being a little more overt about its hopes to bring back the franchise. "I can't reveal what we've got planned, but we fully intend to bring digital viking mayhem into the here-and-now," Human Head co-founder Ted Halsted said. Halsted told Neogamr that the recent Facebook poll was to "gauge fan excitement" and learn more about what aspects of the original game they enjoyed most. He says viking combat is "where Rune's heart beats." He also suggests that the story of the sequel will focus on a more brutal Ragnar, since the end of days (Ragnarok) has come. It will still be a third-person action game, but Halsted says the combat is still "evolving." The company wants to make the game more like modern titles with more tactical options for the action. Plus, thanks to the fan support of multiplayer, he says it will focus on that aspect and clan features.

As for how the studio will fund the project, many guessed a Kickstarter fund was only a matter of time after the word broke of a possible feature. "We certainly wouldn't rule out Kickstarter," Halsted said. "As a developer, we're pleased that there's a wide variety of funding methods for modern projects, from Kickstarter to investors to the traditional publisher model." While Human Head hasn't officially been taken off Prey 2, Bethesda's delay announcement was harsh, to say the least. It claimed the game had "not progressed satisfactorily" and "does not currently meet our quality standards." An anonymous source told us that the studio had stopped work on the game last November due to a contract dispute, which would leave plenty of time for pre-planning of a Rune sequel.

News that Prey 2 had not been cancelled, but rather delayed, was relieving to fans of the original. However, why has there been such secrecy surrounding the project over the last several months? According to a Shacknews source who asked not to be identified, Human Head was not happy with the terms of its contract with ZeniMax, and deliberately stopped work on the game in November so it could try to negotiate a more favorable deal. While doing that, many on the development team were laid off, with the hope they would be rehired if the contract issue was resolved favorably. The process seemed to be gathering some positive momentum until January when ZeniMax's responses all but stopped, causing some of the laid-off Prey 2 team to wonder if the game would ever see the light of day.

By March 1, the source said, things had progressed a bit, leaving the Prey 2 team hopeful that they would return to work soon. But that quickly soured the following day. The source could provide no further first-hand details after March 2. When contacted for a response, an official at ZeniMax responded that "we aren't commenting on the game's development beyond what was said in the statement that was released this morning." In light of the new information, the official stance that "the delay is due to the fact that game development has not progressed satisfactorily this past year, and the game does not currently meet our quality standards" seems to throw Human Head under the creative bus. With development stalled for months, it's no surprise that the game would be unable to meet so-called "quality standards."

Shacknews was able to confirm that a follow-up of Human Head's first person shooter Prey is in development. A few details were revealed through a website which was removed right after Shacknews discovered the sequel information. The site contained a low-res concept art image and the following sentence:

This time, abandoned and framed for the disappearance of his family, Tommy escapes an Earth that no longer wants him for a future that cannot survive without him

Prey 2 is listed for release on PC and Xbox 360, but no other specifics have been released thus far.