Tencent will be "taking the System Shock franchise forward"

OtherSide Entertainment is handing control of the troubled System Shock 3 to Tencent.

The Boston-based studio announced the deal on Twitter, confirming that "Tencent will be taking the System Shock franchise forward."

In a subsequent tweet, it said: "As a smaller Indie studio, it had been challenging for us to carry the project on our own. We believe Tencent's deep capabilities and expertise as a leading game company will bring the franchise to new heights."

This is confirmation of a report that surfaced earlier in the week, via VGC, which suggested that ownership of domain names associated with System Shock 3 and System Shock 4 had been transferred from OtherSide director Paul Neurath to Tencent.

The development of System Shock 3 was affected by the financial crisis at its publisher, Starbreeze. The rights to the game transferred back to OtherSide in February 2019, and the future of the project has been uncertain ever since.

In February this year, the project seemed to be on the brink of collapse, with reports of layoffs at the studio development falling "critically behind."

The deal with Tencent, the details of which were not disclosed, has restored certainty that System Shock 3 will eventually be released. OtherSide's role on the project remains unclear.

We have reached out to both parties to clarify the situation.