Warren Spector's OtherSide studio hasn't worked on System Shock 3 since 2019
"There's not much clarification I can give you."
System Shock 3's creative adviser, Warren Spector, has confirmed "there's not much more to say at this point" about the beleaguered project.
Talking to GamesBeat, Spector said it was up to Tencent "to say what they want to say" about the game, and revealed his team had not worked on the project since 2019.
"We released a statement last year. There's not much more to say at this point," Spector said. "Tencent is taking the franchise forward. It'll be up to them to say what they want to say. There's not much clarification I can give you.
"We worked on it in 2018 and 2019. That was it."
Spector did, however, reflect upon the industry more generally, and was less than complimentary about developers and publishers pushing NFTs.
"Here's where I'm going to get in trouble. I'm literally going to have people giving me hell about what I'm about to say, but I really don't think I care. NFTs are ridiculous. I do not understand why anybody would want to climb on that bandwagon.
"Ownership of virtual goods that can be instantly reproduced in unlimited quantities. Who thinks that's a good idea? So NFTs, I have no interest."
Last week we learned that Deus Ex and Epic Mickey creator Warren Spector was now working on "a completely new intellectual property" at his development studio OtherSide Entertainment. There was no mention of the long-awaited System Shock 3.
As Tom summarised for us a few days back, System Shock 3 was originally announced in 2015 , when Spector was revealed as its creative adviser. The project fell off the rails in 2018, however, after publisher Starbreeze found itself in financial difficulties.
Spector's studio OtherSide split ways with Starbreeze and said it would continue working on the project on its own, but reports of development troubles and staff departures emerged in 2020. Shortly after, OtherSide announced that Chinese conglomerate Tencent would be "taking the System Shock franchise forward", though it was believed at the time that the developer was still involved in some capacity. And that's pretty much all we know right now.
It's not all bad news for System Shock fans, though. There's still the long-awaited System Shock remake, which was delayed in December and is now due sometime in 2022 and a System Shock TV adaptation is also on the cards, written by Mortal Kombat scribe Greg Russo.