Prey dev Human Head Studios closes, is immediately revived by Bethesda

Prey and Rune developer Human Head Studios has shut down, only to be almost immediately revived by Fallout and The Elder Scrolls publisher Bethesda Softworks. 

The studio, which created both the original Prey and its canceled sequel Prey 2, had been forced to "close its doors" for unspecified reasons, but after reaching out to Bethesda for help was given the chance to join the publisher under the new guise of Roundhouse Studios. 

According to Human Head co-founder Chris Rhinehart, Bethesda offered every one of the studio's employees a job at Roundhouse, allowing the team to stay together and Rhinehart to maintain his role as creative director. 

The two companies have worked together before, with Bethesda stepping up to publish the ill-fated Prey 2 before eventually choosing to reboot the franchise in 2017 with the help of Arkane Studios.

"Sadly, we had to wind down the business of Human Head Studios and close its doors, which was particularly devastating due to the passion and creativity of the team we'd assembled," commented Rhinehart in a press release. 

"We reached out to our friends at Bethesda for help, and they saw that same creativity and passion in our team. With the formation of Roundhouse Studios, Bethesda offered every employee of Human Head a position at the new company. We are excited our team will remain together, pursuing the work we love, as part of a company we already know and admire. "

Roundhouse becomes the second development team to join Bethesda in the last month, following the company's purchase of mobile studio Alpha Dog Games, and will begin work on "unannounced projects" straight away.

Update: Ragnarok Game, the publisher behind Human Head's very recent release Rune II, has published a statement on the studio's closure, noting that the news came only one day after the game released and that Human Head's public statement was the first the team heard of any closure.