It has been reported that Tencent games now own the domains for two System Shock websites, meaning they may end up producing System Shock 3.
In case you missed our coverage three months prior, an anonymous employee of OtherSide Entertainment claimed that System Shock 3‘s development team was “no longer employed” at the studio, in the wake of many key figures leaving.
Studio Director Warren Spector was inactive on social media for over three months, along with OtherSide Entertainment’s social media channels having no activity in 2020.
As speculation mounted, Marketing and Business Development Vice President Walter Somol stated the company saw still operating, and the game was still in development. However, Somol works in the studio’s Boston, Massachusetts offices- not the Austin, Texas office where System Shock 3 is being developed.
Starbreeze Publishing originally invested $12 million into publishing System Shock 3 in 2017. Two years later, they would sell the rights back to OtherSide Entertainment when they encountered their own issues [1, 2, 3].
Now, Video Games Chronicle (VGC, thanks Nibellion!) reports that the ownership of domains SystemShock3.com and SystemShock4.com has transferred to Tencent in the prior week. This is based on undisclosed analysis VGC conducted.
Whether this means Tencent has acquired OtherSide Entertainment, or merely the publishing or development rights of System Shock games remains to be seen. Neither website can be accessed at this time. Purchasing a domain for “System Shock 4” may seem strange considering System Shock 3 is not complete.
However it is likely that Tencent wishes to prevent the domain being used to deceive people as being genuine, or to prevent it being harder to acquire later. This also adds credence to Tencent now having greater control over the series.
As of January, 2020 Tencent has 100% ownership of Riot Games, 80% of Grinding Gear Games, 40% in Epic Games, 29% in Funcom, 5% in Activision Blizzard, 5% in Ubisoft, 5% in Paradox Interactive, and others.
Until otherwise stated, System Shock 3 is in development for Windows PC. We will keep you informed as we learn more.
Image: Twitter
