There’s nothing but bad news about the stalled development ofSystem Shock 3. A recently published report claims that not only isSystem Shock 3shelved, but the entire development team is no longer employed by developer OtherSide Entertainment.
System Shock 3was formally announced in late 2015. The team was said to be made up of ex-Irrational Games and Looking Glass Studios developers, headed byDeus ExDirector Warren Spector. Spector is also the director of the originalSystem Shock, makingSystem Shock 3a highly anticipated release, yetSystem Shock 3never grew into anything substantial and was always considered something of a mystery.
The mystery now resolves itself, with the confirmation that the development team is being dissolved. According to VideoGameChronicle,System Shock 3’s director, lead programmer, QA lead, senior designer, and senior environmental artist have all updated their LinkedIn profiles to note their departure fromOtherSide. An anonymous source reportedly says that’s just the start of it and that the entireSystem Shock 3team is “no longer employed.”
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Issues at OtherSide have been publicly disclosed for some time now. In late 2018System Shock 3’s publisher,Starbreeze, went bankrupt and eventually sold the game’s license back to OtherSide. In May 2019, Spector spoke publically about the search for a new publisher forSystem Shock 3. As the year went on and no new publisher was announced, worries grew. Layoffs at the studio were confirmed in December 2019, showing how the situation was becoming desperate. Today’s news, unfortunately, comes across like a natural conclusion.
The frustrating thing is that at one point, Warren Spector said that OtherSide didn’t even necessarily need a publisher. “Luckily, OtherSide is flush enough that we’re funding ourselves and can continue to do that for quite a while,” is how Spector characterized thedevelopment ofSystem Shock 3in mid-2019. It’s unclear of Spector was exaggerating for the sake of trying to find a publisher or if something else went wrong in the time since.
WhySystem Shock 3wasn’t picked up by another publisher will likely remain an unsolved mystery. At one point, OtherSide community manager Sam Luangkhot said thatSystem Shock 3wasn’t the kind of game many would expect. Without a big development team, OtherSide focused onexperimental and “possibly fun” gameplay. Perhaps publishers were put off bySystem Shock 3’suniqueness, or perhaps the game just never came together like planned. It’s disappointing news for all parties involved, but the developers from OtherSide especially.
System Shock 3is now unlikely to be released, short of a project reboot.
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