Nightdive Studios at one point had big ambitions for bringing back the System Shock franchise, with plans for remakes of the first two games, followed by a sequel. Unfortunately, System Shock 3 disappeared in 2020 and we've heard nothing about the project since. Now with the System Shock 2 25th Anniversary Remaster coming out, we're finally starting to see some updates on the long-awaited sequel. 

Speaking with VideoGamesChronicle at GDC this month, Nightdive's director of business development, Larry Kuperman, explained that while the situation around the rights to System Shock 3 is “very complicated”, they are still trying to work it out and could potentially get the clarification they need “within a year”.

Here is the full quote: “The situation around System Shock 3 is very complicated, I don’t know when it’s going to clarify, but it could potentially be within a year. It could be, or it could take longer. That said, what I can say is that we have visions of what we can do within what we control”.

System Shock 3 was originally being developed by Otherside Entertainment, but the studio eventually scrapped its plans and sold the rights to the sequel to Tencent. Now with Nightdive Studios taking on development of the original games and bringing them back to the forefront, the studio has to work things out with Tencent in order to move forward with a System Shock 3. In the meantime though, Nightdive does own the rights to the first two games, so it could go back to do complete remakes, or take a leaf out of Microsoft's book with Age of Empires 2 and continue supporting the older titles with new expansion content.

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KitGuru Says: The immersive sim genre has been lacking in recent years but I do hope that Nightdive finds success with the System Shock 2 Remaster and can then get the greenlight for a System Shock 3. If not, expansions for the new System Shock 2 remaster could keep fans happy and keep the franchise alive while rights for a sequel are negotiated. 

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