The original System Shock has earned itself quite the cult following over the years, which is one of the reasons why developer Nightdive Studios stepped in to create a Kickstarter campaign for System Shock Remastered. The campaign has thus far been hugely successful, with the total pledged amount currently sitting at over $450,000 above its required goal. Unfortunately, it appears that the developer may have gotten a bit too ambitious, as the System Shock Remastered team is currently on a “hiatus”.

Nightdive Studios CEO Stephen Kick posted a new update over on the Kickstarter page for the project, wherein he reveals that his team may have gotten a bit too ambitious, to the point where it seemed as if they were creating a new game rather than a simple remaster. Part of the way through development the team also switched from Unity to the Unreal engine, which pushed completion even further out of reach. Kick then takes full responsibility for how off-kilter things have gotten, Here is the full message from Stephen Kick:

In March of 2016, Nightdive Studios released our video of our vision of System Shock Remastered. Done in Unity it was an immediate hit with almost a half million views on YouTube. In June of 2016 we launched a Kickstarter campaign to make the vision into a reality. It was tremendously successful with over 21,000 backers contributing over $1.3 million to the campaign. We put together a development team and began working on the game. But along the way something happened.

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 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. Please accept my personal assurance that we will be back and stronger than ever. System Shock is going to be completed and all of our promises fulfilled.

As mentioned above, Kick promises that System Shock Remastered is still going to happen at some point, once he and his team reassess their situation and get back to work. Hopefully this will happen sooner rather than later, as over 21,000 backers have invested their money in the hopes of seeing the dream of System Shock Remastered become a reality. System Shock Remastered will be available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One upon release.

So, thoughts on the delay? Do you feel that Kick and his team made the right choice in going on hiatus? Let us know in the comments section below, and as always, stay tuned to Don’t Feed the Gamers for all the latest gaming and entertainment news! Don’t forget to follow DFTG on Twitter for our 24/7 news feed!