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Warren Spector has hinted in a new interview that his version of the long-running System Shock 3 is dead, though he hasn’t directly confirmed this.
Within new GamesBeat interview acclaimed game designer DeusEx spoke briefly regarding his version of System Shock 3, which his studio, OtherSide Entertainment, has been managing for several years.
When asked regarding what’s going on in OtherSide and the circumstances surrounding the end of development on System Shock 3, Spector said:
We issued a statement last year. There is nothing more to say at the moment. Tencent is pushing the franchise forward. It will be up to them to say what they want to say. I can’t give you much clarification.
This statement, to which Spector refers, came following ownership of the System Shock 3 website was transferred to Tencent Holdings.
A brief statement that was released in early 2020 read:
We are pleased to announce that Tencent will be promoting the #SystemShock franchise. As a small indie studio, it was difficult for us to lead the project on our own. We believe that Tencent’s deep capabilities and experience as a leading gaming company will take the franchise to new heights.
When asked by GamesBeat how long he had been working on System Shock 3, Spector replied:
“We worked on it in 2018 and 2019. That’s it.” He also revealed that OtherSide Entertainment had grown to 17 developers at the height of the game’s development, and the head had left his office.
GamesBeat keeps asking regarding the cuts that have taken place in light of the end of development on System Shock 3.
Of course, there was a period of personal recovery. I do not know how to say it. I take it personally, you know? Game development is not just a job for me. It took me a while for my creative juices to bubble up once more. And then covid struck. World has gone mad.
It’s been almost two years since the latest news on System Shock 3, and despite vague claims that some at the studio are still involved with the project, it looks like Spector is gone.
He announced a new game and is “working on an immersive sim under a new IP”, which resulted in game veteran Jeff Goodsill joining the studio as general manager.
Goodsill will oversee the production of upcoming next-generation console and PC games from the independent studio, which is currently “working on unannounced games on both established and new IPs.”
Spector spoke a little more regarding his new game in an interview with GamesBeat, saying:
It will be a pretty deep game. There will be a lot of variety in what you can do and what we ask you to do.
He also revealed that he started working on the game around the time the Covid-19 pandemic hit.
I started thinking regarding it around the time covid hit. Imagine me sitting alone in a room with an empty hard drive coming up with cool stuff. It sounds like a dream, but it’s not. I have many ideas. I always tell people that the ideas are simple. I legally have hundreds of game concepts, from a one-sentence form to a 20-page form, on my hard drive. I looked at a bunch of ideas and developed them to the point where I said, “No, that’s not the one.” But in the end, I ended up with the one that is the only one.