System Shock 3 - Starbreeze Sells Publishing Rights to Otherside

@news.cision Starbreeze has sold back publishing rights for System Shock 3 to Otherside Entertainment due to financial difficulties.

Starbreeze acquired the publishing rights for "System Shock 3" in 2017 and has since then partly financed the development of the game. The title owner OtherSide Entertainment and Starbreeze have now reached an agreement whereby Starbreeze returns the publishing rights for the game to OtherSide and will be able to recoup the development costs.

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More information.

Not surprised given the developers legal troubles.

Looks likely that Otherside will get swallowed up. So much for System Shock 3.

This is actually a good thing. I don't think any true fan of System Shock wants to see a SS3 developed by these guys after the Underworld Ascendant debacle.

Hopefully the IP will be picked up by a competent developer who can do it justice.

Originally Posted by JDR13
This is actually a good thing. I don't think any true fan of System Shock wants to see a SS3 developed by these guys after the Underworld Ascendant debacle.

Hopefully the IP will be picked up by a competent developer who can do it justice.

True that. Things have been looking grim.

I'm not sure what this means.

OtherSide getting back the rights to publishing SS3 means exactly squat in terms of the actual game already in development, unless I'm missing something. Well, unless it means they need to reduce the budget - without this partner involved.

I mean, why would we care who publishes it?

Personally, I'm still extremely concerned since OtherSide is still involved - at least on some level, and now they might be publishing it themselves?

SS3 is a game I've decided to write off - and maybe, against all hope, it will end up being a nice surprise.

Otherside Entertainment got the rights back because of these two problems.

Link - https://www.thesixthaxis.com/2018/12…ng-dead-flops/
Link - https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articl…erson-arrested

Legal and money troubles like I said above. Don't know who will replace them but given OtherSide Entertainment's latest release of Underworld Ascendant hope it's not them.

I certainly don't see anything good about this in terms of the future of SS3.

That said, if by some miracle OtherSide can persuade another publisher to help fund development - maybe that's a step up.

AFAIK, Underworld Ascendant was the exact opposite of a success - and it being their only real title, it's going to take a little work to appear attractive.

Maybe having Warren Spector will make a difference.

It seems like the world of suits still believe in the names of has-beens. Certainly seems to have worked for countless others in this space in recent years.

The potential good comes from the chance that someone other than Otherside eventually gets to develop SS3. If they end up folding due to these financial issues, they're obviously not going to be developing anything.

I can't imagine how anyone could still want them to be the ones to attempt a System Shock sequel. I'd rather it not happen at all than to have them give us another Underworld Ascendant.

The actual developers of SS3 are different from the developers of UA - at least that was the case before UA was released. Warren Spector is leading the SS3 development team - and I find it highly unlikely that they wouldn't be involved in a different iteration if the funding dries up.

I suspect the primary reason UA sucked was Neurath - as he was the lead on that team, and he's clearly not what he once was. Well, maybe he was never that good, which is definitely possible.

My main concern with SS3 isn't about the actual developers - as I don't know who they are (beyond Spector) - but about the business side of OtherSide and the decisions involved if funding becomes a concern, which is even more likely now.

So, again, I don't see the upside at all here.

Anyway, time will tell - I guess.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I'd rather it not happen at all than to have them give us another Underworld Ascendant.

System Shock Descendant

Originally Posted by henriquejr
System Shock Descendant

System Shock Kinect! Edition

Pay to unlock doors as Shodan taunts you around small enclosed spaces that look identical. Pay more to palette swap the rooms!

Yeah it's really difficult to predict how all this will turn out, but as in many other things, I'm tempering my expectations.

Quote from Spector:

We parted ways with Starbreeze (amicably), which means we are in the process of lining up a new publishing partner. Happily, given the pedigree of System Shock and the progress we've made so far there's been a lot of interest. Has the situation affected development? Not really. The team is still, as we say, 'psyched and cranking' - in other words, continuing as normal. We're confident we can bring System Shock 3 to market and have it take its place as a leading title in the immersive simulation genre.

Anyway, on another forum I frequent, there's a developer from OtherSide talking about what went wrong - without going into specifics. I wonder if I should believe him, as I still can't wrap my head around it happening without it being down to terrible and inept leadership.

In any case, they keep insisting that the SS3 development team is different and much larger.

I guess, if you're a glass-half-full kinda guy, there's hope yet.

Originally Posted by Darth Tagnan
The actual developers of SS3 are different from the developers of UA - at least that was the case before UA was released. Warren Spector is leading the SS3 development team - and I find it highly unlikely that they wouldn't be involved in a different iteration if the funding dries up.

I suspect the primary reason UA sucked was Neurath - as he was the lead on that team, and he's clearly not what he once was. Well, maybe he was never that good, which is definitely possible.

My main concern with SS3 isn't about the actual developers - as I don't know who they are (beyond Spector) - but about the business side of OtherSide and the decisions involved if funding becomes a concern, which is even more likely now.

So, again, I don't see the upside at all here.

Anyway, time will tell - I guess.

Amazing, how it comes out that a TEAM was a genius not one developer taking the credit for a game that an amazing team was able to make.