Starbreeze sells System Shock 3 publishing rights back to developer

Game publisher Starbreeze has sold the publishing rights for System Shock 3 back to developer OtherSide Entertainment. Two years ago, Starbreeze invested more than 11 million euros in the development of the game in exchange for those rights.

In addition to the initial investment from 2017, Starbreeze put more money into it over the course of the game’s development, but it’s unknown how much. It is not known what OtherSide will pay for the publishing rights, but the Starbreeze announcement states that the company expects to recover its investments. The Swedish company needs the money now, as it is in financial trouble.

It is not yet clear what the consequences will be for OtherSide Entertainment. In any case, the studio seems to have to pay at least 11 million euros and will have to find another publisher or publish the game itself. However, it may also mean that the studio now has more creative freedom over the development.

Starbreeze’s financial problems are largely due to the disappointing revenues of the game Overkill’s The Walking Dead. That game had been in development since 2014 and came out in 2018. Starbreeze, which previously achieved success with Payday 2, had high hopes for the zombie game, but they were not fulfilled. Reportedly, only about 100,000 copies of the game have been sold. Figures from SteamCharts show that there are hardly any active players. The average number of concurrent players in the last 30 days is 417.

Eurogamer wrote an extensive story about the trials and tribulations of Starbreeze at the end of January. Before that, the site spoke to more than a dozen current and former employees.