Earlier this month, developer OtherSide Entertainment that led by legendary designer Warren Spector, the studio had started development of a new immersive sim IP. Many, understandably enough, were quick to question what the status of the long-in-development System Shock 3 was- and it seems things have only stalled further for the game and its already-beleaguered development cycle.
Speaking in an interview with GamesBeat, Spector referred to the announcement a couple of years ago that Tencent had taken control of System Shock 3, and said that there was nothing more to add about the project. “We released a statement last year,” he said. “There’s not much more to say at this point. Tencent is taking the franchise forward. It’ll be up to them to say what they want to say. There’s not much clarification I can give you.”
When asked about how long exactly OtherSide Entertainment worked on System Shock 3, Spector said, “We worked on it in 2018 and 2019. That was it.”
Of course, when the development of System Shock 3 stalled, OtherSide ended up having to downsize, after which, according to Spector, the studio went into a state of recovery. “There was certainly a period of personal recovery,” he said. “I’m not sure how to say it. I take this personally, you know? Game development is not just a job to me. It took me a while to get my creative juices flowing again. And then COVID hit. The world got crazy.”
Incredibly enough, these aren’t the only hurdles System Shock 3’s development has faced. In 2019, its publishing rights were reverted back from Starbreeze to OtherSide Entertainment, with the former struggling with financial issues at the time. What exactly Tencent plans to do with the project now – if anything – remains to be seen.
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