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Otherside Entertainment working on 'new concept,' no word on System Shock 3

There's still no official word on the fate of System Shock 3 development as different sectors of Otherside move on to new projects.

TJ Denzer

April 20, 2020 7:08 AM

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It’s been a little bit since we heard rumbles that System Shock 3’s development was in serious trouble. Rumor from some of the developers were that the project had been caught up in a bout of layoffs, including the game’s design director. While we wait for any official word on the fate of System Shock 3 from Otherside themselves, it seems that one sector of the developer is working on a ‘new concept’ for a future project.

It was on April 17, 2020, that Video Game Chronicle took note of a post in an ongoing Otherside layoff thread in which VP of Marketing and Business Development Walter Somol took the opportunity to speak to the status of Otherside, claiming the studio is “still here” despite layoffs and working on an unrevealed project.

“We’re all working remotely right now, probably like most of you,” Somol wrote. “Our new concept is coming along nicely and we are really excited about it. We have cool and we think distinctive art style for it and we have that and gameplay coming together in UE4. I know it’s a tease, but I just can’t really say anything about it at this point.”

It’s worth noting that Somol is part of OtherSide Entertainment’s Boston division, not in connection with the Austin-based team that was working on System Shock 3 and apparently laid off, halting development of the game. It also seems pretty clear that OtherSide Boston’s project is not System Shock 3, given the “new concept” phrasing. It would certainly be nice to get an update from voices at the apparently still-functioning OtherSide on the matter of System Shock 3, but that may very well be outside of Somol’s jurisdiction or knowledge at this time.

Whatever the case, the official matter of System Shock 3’s fate is still up in the air, even as OtherSide seems to be moving onto something altogether new. It remains to be seen if we’ll get an official cancelation anytime soon, but we can apparently expect a reveal of another OtherSide game sometime in the future.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.