The initial response to the perceived System Shock reboot from Nightdive Studios was one of astounding reception. The game has over 21,000 backers on Kickstarter and $1.3 million in funding, but after failing to meet its December 2017 deadline, the title has been delayed further due to the company losing scope of the project.
The first reveal of the System Shock reboot was shown on the Unity engine on YouTube in March of 2016, and the video went on to receive half a million views. A few months later in June, Nightdive Studios launched its immensely successful Kickstarter. As the months went on, “something happened” as Stephen Kick, Nightsive Studios CEO, puts it.
Maybe we were too successful. Maybe we lost our focus. The vision began to change. We moved from a Remaster to a completely new game. We shifted engines from Unity to Unreal, a choice that we don’t regret and one that has worked out for us. With the switch we began envisioning doing more, but straying from the core concepts of the original title. As our concept grew and as our team changed, so did the scope of what we were doing and with that the budget for the game. As the budget grew, we began a long series of conversations with potential publishing partners. The more that we worked on the game, the more that we wanted to do, and the further we got from the original concepts that made System Shock so great.
As this project began to change direction, the CEO realized the path the game was taking was not the one that 21,000 people had donated $1.3 million for. “I let things get out of control,” says Kick. Although the CEO had good intentions for the game, these changes must now be evaluated as a whole for the sake of the people who backed and anticipated this game. The CEO states that this project will continue and has not been cancelled. The company will simply be setting aside time to figure out what to do next and where the game’s path should still be heading towards. Kick assures that “System Shock is going to be completed and all of our promises fulfilled.”
It is currently unknown how long this hiatus will last.