Game News System Shock 3 has been acquired by Tencent

[Infinitron]

Tags: OtherSide Entertainment; System Shock 3; Tencent

OtherSide Entertainment released a System Shock 3 pre-alpha gameplay teaser back in September. It was a last ditch attempt at finding a publisher for the game, which predictably failed. Over the next couple of months we began spotting numerous laid off employees on LinkedIn, and in December an anonymous former developer confirmed on our forums that OtherSide Austin no longer existed. OtherSide's Boston studio still survives somehow working on god knows what, but we all thought System Shock 3 was dead and buried. Then last week LESS T_T noticed that OtherSide's systemshock3.com domain had been quietly transferred to Chinese conglomerate Tencent a month earlier (and for good measure systemshock4.com as well). After several articles in the mainstream press were published about it earlier this week, today OtherSide confirmed somewhat vaguely that System Shock 3 had indeed been picked up by Tencent.

We are happy to announce that Tencent will be taking the System Shock franchise forward. As a smaller Indie studio, it had been challenging for us to carry the project on our own. We believe Tencent’s deep capabilities and expertise as a leading game company will bring the franchise to new heights.
​

Some outlets interpreted this as an announcement that Tencent had acquired the entire System Shock franchise, but current IP owners Nightdive Studios were quick to shoot that down in a statement to PC Gamer.

While the tweet implies that Tencent now owns System Shock, Nightdive Studios, which is currently working on a System Shock remake, clarified that it remains the owner of the property.

"OtherSide licensed certain rights from us to make sequels. Those rights have now been transferred to Tencent," a rep said. "Nothing about that transfer in any way impacts our ownership."​

What's clear in my opinion is that this is not a standard publishing deal announcement. OtherSide sound like they've passed System Shock 3 on to a new owner, not like they're about to work on it themselves. My guess is that Tencent intend to find or form a new studio to develop a System Shock sequel, perhaps with Warren Spector onboard to oversee development. Indeed, there were rumors to that effect last month. We shall see.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

System shock battle royale with builtin government spying features and microtransactions

 

[Azalin]

Fuck

 

[luj1]

Nightdive Studios clarified that it remains the owner of the property.

... until they get offered a fat Chinese envelope

But yeah, animu graphics and mobile microtransactions in this hoe

 

[DeepOcean]

Cant wait for the next sale of System Shock bucks to buy my experience booster.

 

[karnak]

So... I guess that means the game's gonna be spying on our PCs while we play, then?

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

Cant wait for the next sale of System Bioshock bucks to buy my experience booster.

Fixed.

 

[evdk]

They could use Chinese government social credit algorithms to make better Shodan. This is a win for all.

 

[Morality Games]

So... I guess that means the game's gonna be spying on our PCs while we play, then?

Hm. I wonder if the Chinese thought they were buying the rights to an actual super powerful A.I, and will only later realize it is a video game?

 

[Sacibengala]

Disgusting, as usual, from this company.

 

[commie]

Beautiful...I await the day when Tencent own everything in the AAA world and EA, Ubi, Activision will be reduced to making indies to stay afloat as an alternative. Maybe they'll remember that in days gone by they actually made and published good games.

 

[Chunkyman]

Considering how bad Underworld Ascendant was, this can only be a good thing. Normally I would feel bad for a company going under, but Otherside essentially burned several hundred thousand dollars of people's money they donated on Kickstarter either through gross incompetence or through wildly overpromising on what was feasible for the budget.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

, this can only be a good thing.

Your optimism is admirable.

 

[Morpheus Kitami]

I wasn't aware it was possible to go from zero interest to negative interest in a game. Late sequels rarely work, but a late sequel made by a company known for making P2W trash? This is going to be like the Heroes of M&M mobile games, isn't it?

 

[Eirinjas]

Does this mean every order of System Shock 3 will now come with a free zodiac calendar? (year of the rabbit, baby!)

 

[udm]

I've asked this question before: how do Paul Neurath, Tim Stellmach, Warren Spector, and all those other idiots from the LGS-Otherside committee even sleep at night, knowing they not just ripped off their loyal fanbase of hundreds of thousands of dollars, but also lost the rights to develop their most hyped franchise, as in, THE SERIES that people continue to put on a pedestal today? I would be devastated at my own incompetence if I ever had to do something like what those fools did. Holy shit.

 

[Kruno]

Whatever merit this game had has now been obliterated.

 

[cb.spike]

I bet Spector with his world views must be thrilled by this development.

 

[Nito]

I've asked this question before: how do Paul Neurath, Tim Stellmach, Warren Spector, and all those other idiots from the LGS-Otherside committee even sleep at night, knowing they not just ripped off their loyal fanbase of hundreds of thousands of dollars, but also lost the rights to develop their most hyped franchise, as in, THE SERIES that people continue to put on a pedestal today? I would be devastated at my own incompetence if I ever had to do something like what those fools did. Holy shit.

It's because if these guys had that certain special something to begin with, they lost it years ago. I suspect they've always kind of taken a lot of credit for other circumstances that made games they're associated with good, be it team composition, right time right place, etc. In any case, that's irrelevant now because nearly all of them (along with a whole heap of sci-fi writers) are just shitlib NPCs. I don't think they think about it much, they probably rationalize it.

 

[A horse of course]

CHINA NUMBAH WAN

 

[Iluvcheezcake]

NI HAO!

 

[*-*/\--/\~]

They should sell all the Neuraths and Spectors to the Chinese as well, so they cannot go and pollute another studio. No social credit until they actually make a good game.

 

[MRY]

I feel like there's a low-hanging Yakov Smirnoff "the system shocks you" joke here.

 

[Azdul]

I've asked this question before: how do Paul Neurath, Tim Stellmach, Warren Spector, and all those other idiots from the LGS-Otherside committee even sleep at night

So they've made a bad game, not the first and not the last, but because it was kickstarted they had to release it, instead of quietly burying it. Kickstarter is such a perfect platform for tarnishing good memories of past games.

Also forget about famous names - those guys are hired for their marketing potential. They are there to sell and hype the game, while someone else is making it.

 

[Darth Roxor]

wuxia shock coming right up ooooh yeah