Warren Spector confirms Otherside last worked on System Shock 3 in 2019, and that 'NFTs are ridiculous'

(Image credit: OtherSide Entertainment)

In May of 2020 it was confirmed that Otherside Entertainment was no longer working on System Shock 3, and that it had been taken over by Chinese conglomerate Tencent. Speculation that the studio remained involved in some capacity continued, however, and the fact there's still a System Shock 3 page on the Otherside website and its Twitter avatar is series villain Shodan didn't help. But then earlier this month, Warren Spector (CCO of Otherside) announced that his team was working on a brand-new immersive sim.

In a new interview with Gamesbeat, Spector reiterated that Otherside is definitely not working on System Shock 3, saying, "Tencent is taking the franchise forward. It'll be up to them to say what they want to say." He also explained that his team had worked on it in 2018 and 2019, "That was it."

Talking about the new project, Spector said the previously shared image of a whale and stingray riders "represents an aspect of what the game is about. It's going to be a pretty deep game. There's going to be a lot of variety in what you can do and what we ask you to do. That whale is part of that smorgasbord of game levels."

Spector also mentioned that a separate team at Otherside is working with Wizards of the Coast on a licensed Dungeons & Dragons game. Otherside's jobs page says, "We are putting together a team for a big job in the Forgotten Realms" above a picture of a halfling trying to escape with the Xanathar's goldfish, and a couple of the positions advertised mention "multiplayer gameplay systems", but that's it.

Tempting as it is to speculate about a multiplayer stealth game about parties of rogues pulling off heists based on these clues, it's not really much to go on. "The D&D game is going well", is all Spector said. "You'd have to ask them to know for sure, but I think Wizards is happy with what we're doing."

Finally, when Gabe Newell's recent comments on the metaverse and NFTs were brought up, Spector didn't hold back. Like a lot of people involved in classic works of cyberpunk, it turns out he's not a fan. "Here's where I'm going to get in trouble", Spector said. "I'm literally going to have people giving me hell about what I'm about to say, but I really don't think I care. NFTs are ridiculous. I do not understand why anybody would want to climb on that bandwagon. Ownership of virtual goods that can be instantly reproduced in unlimited quantities. Who thinks that's a good idea? So NFTs, I have no interest."

Jody's first computer was a Commodore 64, so he remembers having to use a code wheel to play Pool of Radiance. A former music journalist who interviewed everyone from Giorgio Moroder to Trent Reznor, Jody also co-hosted Australia's first radio show about videogames, Zed Games. He's written for Rock Paper Shotgun, The Big Issue, GamesRadar, Zam, Glixel, Five Out of Ten Magazine, and Playboy.com, whose cheques with the bunny logo made for fun conversations at the bank. Jody's first article for PC Gamer was about the audio of Alien Isolation, published in 2015, and since then he's written about why Silent Hill belongs on PC, why Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale is the best fantasy shopkeeper tycoon game, and how weird Lost Ark can get. Jody edited PC Gamer Indie from 2017 to 2018, and he eventually lived up to his promise to play every Warhammer videogame.