Tencent is now officially in charge of System Shock 3. According to game dev OtherSide Entertainment, the Chinese publisher now owns the licenses for the upcoming sequel to the franchise.
In a tweet, OtherSide informed fans that System Shock 3 would handle the game going forward. This announcement implied that Tencent now owns the game, but license owner Nightdive Studios refutes the assumption.
The Chinese company now has stakes in many other gaming studios globally. These include stakes in Activision Blizzard, Epic Games, and Ubisoft.
Predictions of Tencent Holdings takeover come from report
Predictions of an impending stake in the System Shock franchise circulated the internet this week. These leaks came out of a VGC report where websites systemshock3.com and systemshock4.com showed the Chinese company as owner.
The registration for these websites was under OtherSide director Paul Neurath. The registration moved to Tencent Holdings last week until it moved again to a brand protection agency.
“We are happy to announce that Tencent will be taking the #SystemShock franchise forward,” said OtherSide. “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.”
Much like any company, the deep pockets of Tencent are hard to resist. OtherSide had problems since last year when it comes to their financial liquidity.
In May, creative director Warren Spector announced they’re still looking for publishers for System Shock. By September, staff departure and layoffs plague the game dev, showing a bleak look of things to come.
Chinese company has stake in over a dozen game developers
The new acquisition of rights to System Shock validates the creeping movement of Tencent Holdings in the industry. The Chinese company has stakes in a dozen game developers and publishers. They also have a ton of stakes in many games, especially in mobile platforms.
Some of these stakes include full ownership of Riot Games and Funcom. They also have minor stakes in major studios like Activision Blizzard, Paradox Interactive, and Ubisoft.
The announcement on Twitter received a sizeable backlash from fans. Last year, fan backlash came to Activision Blizzard and Riot Games. This backlash is due to censorship of pro players’ sentiment over Hongkong protests.
Fans connected the censorship to the ownership of Tencent Holdings with the game studios.
Players are still waiting on what Tencent plans to do with System Shock 3 in the upcoming future. The System Shock remake is a different license, with Nightdive Studios as its developer and publisher.
Featured image courtesy of OtherSide Entertainment/Youtube Screenshots