I’m sure we were all wondering what was going on with System Shock Remake that NightDive Studios seemed to have been working on forever. Well, now that the finish line is on the horizon, NightDive’s CEO has decided to get candid.
As reported by Exputer, Stephen Kick got remarkably candid about what happened:
“The System Shock remake has had a troubled development, but the pre-launch reception has been positive. Even if the team does decide to focus on remasters after System Shock, that doesn’t mean the company is scaling back its ambitions.”
Stephen doesn’t have to recount every detail of the story here, because most of it did play out in the public.
After releasing a much smaller scale remaster of the original System Shock in 2015, NightDive announced that they would be working on a full remake of the game, built on Unity. They would then open a Kickstarter to fund the venture, and took on several veterans to help work on the game, including Chris Avellone.
Many of the details from when they started changed. Avellone stopped being involved in the project in 2017, and they moved engines from Unity to Unreal.
In the middle of 2018, they stopped work on the remake full stop, as they were forced to reassess the project. Kick revealed that the studio unintentionally got carried away mid-development, allowing feature creep to sneak in, and also getting away from what the company promised in their Kickstarter.
So, in spite of the delay, we should consider the upcoming System Shock Remake to have started development in 2018. NightDive staff also revealed later that they wanted to push through with the bigger remake, but needed a publisher to add money into the project and make it happen. At this time, NightDive failed to find that publisher, and so they scaled back the project completely.
Of course, we now know that NightDive was recently acquired by Atari (FKA Infogrames), but Kick made it clear this acquisition won’t affect their immediate upcoming projects.
As we now know, of course, NightDive was able to stay the course and finish the remake even in the middle of the pandemic. They also released a demo in 2020 to reassure fans and give them a taste of what to expect.
If System Shock Remake proves to be a success, NightDive will take that feedback as a sign to increase output on their projects in the future. If you’re a fan of those good old fashioned boomer shooters, you definitely want to keep your eyes out for this one.
System Shock Remake will be releasing in May 20, 2023, on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC on Windows, Linux, and MacOs, via Steam, Epic Games Store, and GOG.
