System Shock 3 Is Moving Forward With Tencent's Involvement

System Shock 3, which was announced back in 2015, but has faced a rocky road since then, and for a while the game's future was unclear. While Otherside Entertainment has been working on the game for some time, and brought on System Shock lead designer Warren Spector to help craft the sequel, reports of layoffs within the studio painted a worrying picture. Now, however, it's clear that System Shock 3 will be moving forward, but with a new studio involved.

On Twitter, OtherSide Entertainment has announced that Tencent--the Chinese holding company with several major investments in multiple game developers and publishers--is coming on board to assist. Tencent will "be taking the System Shock franchise forward", according to the developer--although what this means, exactly, is unclear. A follow-up tweet suggests that the company will be assisting the development team, which has struggled with the game's scale.

Furthermore, Nightdive Studios CEO Stephen Kick has taken to Twitter to affirm that Nightdive still owns the System Shock IP--meaning that any reports that Tencent is its new owner are false. Nightdive was previously working on a remaster of the original System Shock, but the status of that game is currently unclear. An enhanced edition of System Shock 2 is also in the works at the studio.

Ultimately, the main takeaway here is that forces are in motion to assure that System Shock 3 still happens. In 2017, it was announced that the game might also come to PS4 and Xbox One; it's not clear which systems it is in development for now.

Hopefully more concrete news on the state of System Shock 3 will emerge soon.