Bad news for fans who have been patiently waiting for the release of the remake of System Shock : Night Dive Studios, the team who was able to raise $1.35 million for funding the game on Kickstarter back in 2016, has just announced that production of the game will be temporarily halted.

In a message to his backers, CEO Stephen Kick said that: 

“I have put the team on a hiatus while we reassess our path so that we can return to our vision. We are taking a break, but NOT ending the project.”

Furthermore, Kick gave a detailed explanation on why he decided that the team should take a break to realign themselves with their vision.

“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.

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.”

I can only imagine the disappointment that some backers of the game may initially feel about Night Dive Studio’s announcement. However, I think the team’s decision to take a break in order to realign themselves with their vision is an indicator of their commitment to develop the best possible version of the game. It is always better to take a step back and look at the bigger picture instead of obsessing with a deadline that ends with an overly ambitious game that fans and backers would hate anyway. I just hope that System Shock’s hiatus won’t take too long and that they will be able to come up with a plan to proceed with the game’s production. You can also check out the first footage of the remaster that Night Dive Studios released back in 2016. 

What do you think of Night Dive Studios’ announcement to halt the production of System Shock? Are you looking forward to see this game released soon? Share your thoughts in the comments below.