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Starbreeze Sells Back Publishing Rights For ‘System Shock 3’
This should come as no surprise, but after acquiring the publishing rights to System Shock 3 back in 2017 from OtherSide Entertainment, Starbreeze has made the decision to sell the rights back to OtherSide. After the gong show that was Overkill’s The Walking Dead and the filing for insolvency, Starbreeze is selling.
The troubled publisher had already partly financed the long-awaited sequel in the classic series, and will be repaid the development costs by OtherSide. Starbreeze had pledged to invest $12 million in the game.
“I believe this is the best solution for us, although it is sad that we cannot complete the project with OtherSide,” says acting Starbreeze CEO Mikael Nermark. “System Shock 3 is a fantastic title developed in cooperation with the industry legend Warren Spector and I am looking forward to seeing the game released”.
Speaking of which, there’s still no clear timeline as to when the game will finally be released. Apart from concept art and the announcement that Terri Brosius would be returning to voice SHODAN, there hasn’t been much else.
As for the remake of System Shock by Nightdive Studios, Nightdive have posted more concept art for the title, which is still on track for a 2020 release.
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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