System Shock and its sequel by Looking Glass Studios have had a distinct impact on the gaming industry. In December 2015, the third installment in the franchise titled System Shock 3 was announced, but its development has had plenty of ups and downs. As of now, it appears to have a future with the publisher Tencent, though it's difficult to say what kind of game it's shaping up to be.
After developer Otherside Entertainment released two media pieces for System Shock 3 in 2019 that got the internet abuzz, it appeared that the game's development was on the right track. Doubt returned in February after reports that Otherside Entertainment laid off several members of the development team, with rumors that System Shock 3 was canceled. In April, Otherside stated the development team was working remotely on the game but seeking a publisher.
A month later, Otherside found their publisher in Tencent, who appears to have also taken over some aspects of development, with Nightdive maintaining ownership of the System Shock franchise. For Otherside, a small, independent developer that is also working on a System Shock remake, it made sense to hand the game to a capable publisher such as Tencent.
What is somewhat unclear is how much development of the game is completed and what responsibilities for its development are being divided among the two companies. Along with the layoff reports, technical difficulties threw another wrench in the game's development, and demos of the game were thrown away. On top of this, the studio has had to work remotely on the game because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With Tencent now publishing the title, and Otherside having expressed difficulty in producing a huge, highly anticipated title such as System Shock 3, a great deal about the game may have already changed altogether. As all that has been shown about the game so far was pre-alpha footage, and some if not all of it may not be used at all at this point. However, Warren Spector, studio lead at Otherside Entertainment, is still attached to the project, which might be enough to maintain the creative vision laid out by him and Paul Neurath for System Shock 3.
Even still, as Tencent is now involved in the game's development, it's difficult to discern exactly how this will affect System Shock 3. Tencent maintains full and partial ownership of many developers focusing on mass-multipayer types of experience, including heavy hitters like Riot Games' Valorant and League of Legends and Fortnite developer Epic Games. It's interesting that Tencent would pick up a project like this, as System Shock has traditionally been a single-player experience.
The delays and difficulties in production will have no doubt impacted the title's release date as well. With no word on how far along the game is, and with the Otherside team working remotely with Tencent during the COVID-19 pandemic and scrapping earlier concepts, there is no telling when a new announcement will be unveiled, and no indication as to when a target release date may even be.
However, Tencent's involvement has been described as "taking the franchise forward." This could imply that Tencent has received more creative control over the game's development, which could result in an even more delayed development cycle. On the other hand, it's possible that Otherside has managed to maintain the game's core concept during this transition, and Tencent might just be supplying extra hands and funds for the game's completion.
There is no telling what kind of game System Shock 3 has become after all of this turmoil, and that's what makes the property so interesting right now. In an interview on Escapist, Warren Spector described working on System Shock 3 as "a game that has to live up to people's memories of these games, not the reality." Whether it comes out next year or the year after, System Shock 3 is likely to be an exciting and thought-provoking release in the future.