In May of 2020 it was confirmed that Otherside Entertainment was no longer working on System Shock 3, and that it had been taken over by Chinese conglomerate Tencent. Speculation that the studio remained involved in some capacity continued, however, and the fact there’s still a System Shock 3 page on the Otherside website and its Twitter avatar is series villain Shodan didn’t help. But then earlier this month, Warren Spector (CCO of Otherside) announced that his team was working on a brand-new immersive sim.
In a new interview with Gamesbeat, Spector reiterated that Otherside is definitely not working on System Shock 3, saying, “Tencent is taking the franchise forward. It’ll be up to them to say what they want to say.” He also explained that his team had worked on it in 2018 and 2019, “That was it.”
Talking about the new project, Spector said the previously shared image of a whale and stingray riders “represents an aspect of what the game is about. It’s going to be a pretty deep game. There’s going to be a lot of variety in what you can do and what we ask you to do. That whale is part of that smorgasbord of game levels.”
Spector also mentioned that a separate team at Otherside is working with Wizards of the Coast on a licensed Dungeons & Dragons game. Otherside’s jobs page says, “We are putting together a team for a big job in the Forgotten Realms” above a picture of a halfling trying to escape with the Xanathar’s goldfish, and a couple of the positions advertised mention “multiplayer gameplay systems”, but that’s it.
Tempting as it is to speculate about a multiplayer stealth game about parties of rogues pulling off heists based on these clues, it’s not really much to go on. “The D&D game is going well”, is all Spector said. “You’d have to ask them to know for sure, but I think Wizards is happy with what we’re doing.”
Finally, when Gabe Newell’s recent comments on the metaverse and NFTs were brought up, Spector didn’t hold back. Like a lot of people involved in classic works of cyberpunk, it turns out he’s not a fan. “Here’s where I’m going to get in trouble”, Spector said. “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.”
