Update: 2:36 p.m. with no comment from Bethesda.

When Shacknews' Ozzie Mejia previewed Human Head Studio's Prey 2 back at E3 last year, he came away impressed with the new direction the series seemed to be taking. Open-world bounty hunting is an intriguing concept, to say the least. That's why it's disheartening that a rumor has surfaced indicating that the game might never see the light of day.

Website PSFocus points to a few factors that contribute to the notion that all might not be well with Prey 2. First and foremost is that developer Human Head Studios cancelled three scheduled conferences at GDC 2012, without providing any explanation.

The fact that new information and news about the game has all but vanished since the game's positively-received E3 showing, while not decisively damning, doesn't bode particularly well either for what was expected to be a high-profile title.

Neither publisher Bethesda nor parent company Zenimax have offered any comment on the matter as of yet, though PSFocus is also claiming (based on unnamed sources) that Bethesda will be issuing an official message about the state of Prey 2 sometime next week.

Bethesda's only response was "we don't have any comment."

(via GameInformer)