So System Shock 3 may not be happening after all...

As I'm sure a few of you know, System Shock 3's development has been a bit of trouble for quite some time. The financial problems encountered by Starbreeze prompted the game's developer OtherSide Entertainment to buy the publishing rights for the game off of the struggling publisher and, since then, they've been looking for a new publisher.

Report out now that apparently OtherSide has let go of the entirety of System Shock 3's dev team.

It may (or may not) be related that Warren Spector, the Austin studio's lead, stopped tweeting about a month ago. He was active all throughout 2019. There could, of course, be other reasons for that - we all live intricate, unseen lives - but it definitely stands out alongside this news. Just something I noticed.

Some of you will be aware that friend of the site and former Gamespot/On the Spot/Hotspot host Rich Gallup joined OtherSide last year. However, he works at the Boston studio; the Austin studio has been, as far as I'm aware, largely responsible for System Shock 3. Still, OtherSide as a whole seems like they are in trouble. Studio was founded 7 years ago and its only major game release so far, Underworld Ascendant, was a bit of a disaster at launch and - based on the Steam Charts stats for the game - I doubt it sold as well as they were hoping.

I'm guessing we'll be hearing way more about this by the time the Bombcast rolls around but, if true (and I can see that being the case), it's a real shame. I know a lot of folks have a lot of love for this series (including @rorie) and a third iteration had been a long time coming - it has been 20+ years since System Shock 2! If it's true, here's hoping any folks who are leaving/have left land on their feet. Given that the report suggests that the game was "critically behind", I think that's probably it for System Shock 3 - at least the version that we've caught glimpses of over the past few years. There's still the possibility that OtherSide's Boston team takes over the project, I guess, but I'm not so sure about that if the source is to be believed.

There is, of course, still the remake of the first game to look forward to this year (which isn't related to OtherSide) so, who knows, perhaps there will be some renewed interest after it releases.

EDIT: Another interesting thing that popped up when looking for some more info, is the $12m that Starbreeze was expecting from OtherSide for the publishing rights. While we don't know the exact arrangement, it does sound as if Starbreeze doesn't have that money and was expecting it. This may actually end up having the knock-on effect of sending Starbreeze over the edge.

Not all that surprised. Had bad vibes about both SS3 and NightDive's SS1 remake from the start, but of course it's a bummer for anybody who backed those projects.

When it comes to Starbreeze, by all accounts that company has been mismanaged for years, I don't think anything OtherSide does will have a significant impact on Starbreeze's survival.

@fisk0: While I know many people are disappointed with stuff surrounding the SS1 remake, I know all to well that there are so many roadblocks to succeeding past that initial backing phase that are difficult to translate and talk to backers about. They're still working on it and still communicating regularly so I take that as a positive sign.

As for Starbreeze, you may well be right. It's difficult to get a fuller picture of what's going on right now though due to them moving their IP assets around to new companies (such as New Starbreeze AB). They do have a lot of tentative agreements with their creditors. Payday 3 is aptly named - that's a payday 3 years away!

I doubt they received anywhere close to that $12 million last year ("expects to be fully reimbursed") and it was part of the deal that they are supposed to reclaim part of the fees from revenue generated by game sales (which now seems highly unlikely). I think they also have a similar deal with Double Fine for Psychonauts 2 - another game without a firm release date.

I guess we'll find out in time if Payday 3's development costs have already been covered by investors (as they claim) or if they are banking on fees from other agreements (such as the OtherSide one) to make up for shortfalls. As you say, they've mismanaged for years - I don't think it's a reach to suggest they may well have been gambling on these kind of fees to tide them over until Payday 3 releases in 2022-2023.

For the sake of those in employment, I do hope that's not the case - but I also wouldn't be surprised if it is the case. Either way, things don't look good for OtherSide - especially if Starbreeze come a-knockin' for their money. I can't see how the studio survives on Underworld Ascendant alone.

What a shame. The teaser they put out a while back looked fine and the pitch seems promising with Warren Spector going back to his Deus Ex roots.

This saddens me, but the more and more I was hearing about the development of this game I rather worried it would just be a mess. Considering System Shock 2 is one of my all time favorites, I rather not have another game, then a poorly half assed attempt at a sequel.

I'm sorry for the people rumored to be out of work. Long-term, I think we're likely to see someone snap up the IP now that there's a proven bit of interest in making it work. What that ends up being, who knows at this point. But in an era when rehashing yesterday's leftovers is far more appealing for some goddamn reason than new IPs, yeah, I have zero doubt this one will get made, just not by this company.