System Shock Reboot Gets Put On Hold In Total Buzzkill For Kickstarter Backers

We've got some bad news for who got excited about System Shock Remastered that hit Kickstarter back in 2016. If you were hoping to play the game this year, unfortunately it seems that it isn’t going to happen. A recent announcement on the game's Kickstarter page from Stephen Kick, CEO of Nightdive Studios, has poured cold water on hopes of a finished game anytime soon.

Kick says of the development, "...along the way something happened."

Kick wrote, "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."

While the Kickstarter campaign for the game raised over $1.3 million, the budget continued to grow according to Kick. He says that the team began to stray from the concepts of the original game that made it so successful.

Kick wrote, "Ultimately the responsibility for the decisions rests with me. As the CEO and founder of Nightdive Studios, a company that was built on the restoration of the System Shock franchise, I let things get out of control. I can tell you that I did it for all the right reasons, that I was totally committed to making a great game, but it has become clear to me that we took the wrong path, that we turned our backs on the very people who made this possible, our Kickstarter backers."

Kick says that the team is taking a break and has been put on hiatus, but that it is not ending the project. "Please accept my personal assurance that we will be back and stronger than ever. System Shock is going to be completed and all of our promises fulfilled," wrote Kick.

The comments left on Kick's Kickstarter post are harsh with people understandably upset at the "break" the team is taking. Reports floating around from anonymous sources claim that the funds raised on Kickstarter are gone and that at least 15 of the workers on the game have been permanently laid off. If those rumors are accurate, the situation is likely more dire than taking a short break to regroup and refocus on the project.