Starbreeze Studios has announced that they have stopped development work on System Shock 3 and its rights have been sold back to OtherSide Entertainment. After a choppy 2018, Starbreeze has handed System Shock 3 over with a fully reimbursed cost incurred to the title during its development.
According to a press release on their official website, Starbreeze announced handing back the rights to OtherSide Entertainment. Starbreeze had acquired publishing rights to the game back in 2017 and has financed part of the game as well.
The agreement was mutual among both parties and it also included that Starbreeze will also get all the expenses back it did while working on System Shock 3 with Otherside Entertainment. Acting CEO, Mikael Nermark, gave his official statement which is
I believe this is the best solution for us, although it is sad that we cannot complete the project with OtherSide. System Shock 3 is a fantastic title developed in cooperation with the industry legend Warren Spector and I am looking forward to seeing the game released.
2018 was not the best of the years for Starbreeze as first its CEO resigned and then later, it filed for reconstruction. This decision caused the company’s stock to fall by nearly 67%. This decision was made after their latest title Overkill’s The Walking Dead failed miserably.
The massive failure of the title led to big problems for Starbreeze. There were numerous factors behind its failure but eventually, it led to Starbreeze reducing its short-term forecasted revenue and filing up for reconstruction due to a shortage of liquidity.
At this point, Starbreeze holds the publishing rights for Psychonauts 2 and Ten Crown. It does not have the publishing rights of System Shock 3 anymore.
What do you think about System Shock 3’s future? Do you think this switch will affect its already troubled development? Let us know in the comments section below.