Back in 1994, the action-adventure game System Shock managed to sell 170,000 copies. While it wasn’t exactly a blockbuster, it did keep its development company afloat. More importantly, it paved the way for other important titles. The main reason behind its mediocrity was linked to a rather steep learning curve and confusing level layouts.
Fast forward to our recent days, a company named Nightdive Studios launched a Kickstarter project that aimed to recreate the classic title. It all seemed to be going well until the entire development efforts were halted. Apparently, the team “took the wrong path and turned its backs to its backers.”
The CEO of Nightdive Studios, Stephen Kick, issued the following statement:
“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.”
Stephen has taken full responsibility for this failure, but he did mention that he had good intentions from the start.
“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.”
It’s worth noting that the project remains in a paused state at this point. They did not cancel the project, but the developers need to figure out what they want to do next. Hopefully, they’ll manage to pull themselves together soon.
Such is the risk with Kickstarter projects, I guess.
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