Update: Otherside Entertainment, the studio behind System Shock, today officially announced that Chinese conglomerate Tencent will manage System Shock 3 going forward.

"As a small indie studio, it was difficult for us to pursue the project on our own. We believe that Tencent's deep capabilities and expertise as a leading game company will take this franchise to new heights."

The tweet implies that Tencent is currently the owner of System Shock, but Night Dive Studios, which is currently working on a remake of System Shock, clarified that ownership remains with the company.

"OtherSide had licensed certain rights from us to make a sequel. Those rights have now been transferred to Tencent." There is nothing about that transfer that affects our ownership rights."

While it remains to be seen what Tencent has in mind for System Shock 3, the simple fact that it is in the hands of a reliable and competent publisher is the best possible outcome for a game that has been in difficult development for some time.Otherside's marketing and Vice President of Business Development Walter Somol said in April that the studio is "still here" and working on the game, but reports of key staff layoffs earlier this year have cast serious doubt on the game's future.

Original article [System Shock 3 has not been announced this year, but the transfer of two System Shock domains to Tencent suggests that struggling developer OtherSide Entertainment has found a publisher.

According to VGC, the SystemShock3.com and SystemShock4.com domains are now owned by Tencent, as corroborated by their DomainTools profile. This record was updated on April 13 of this year. Neither site is currently active, and OtherSide is using another site to share System Shock 3 news.

In May, creative director Warren Spector said that OtherSide intends to go it alone, but is still looking for a publishing partner. Since then, the studio has remained silent, except for a pre-alpha teaser in September. While staff departures and layoffs paint a rather dire picture, it has been dead all year on social media.

OtherSide Boston's vice president of marketing and business development posted on the forum and confirmed that it still exists and is working on new concepts, but its team is separate from the Austin-based System Shock 3 studio. He too left soon after.

If OtherSide partners with Tencent, it will be the second publisher of System Shock 3. Starbreeze obtained the publishing rights in 2017 by pledging to pour $12 million into the sequel; in 2019, shortly after filing for reorganization to avoid bankruptcy, Starbreeze sold the rights back to OtherSide, but OtherSide also had the money the publisher had already invested had to repay.

With the hit to its bank account and Starbreeze no longer covering any development costs, it is not surprising that there has not been much good news for OtherSide lately. Tencent's deep pockets must be quite attractive.