Night Dive Studios planned to fund the development of the game through a Kickstarter campaign that started on June 28, 2016, with a goal of US$900,000. Veteran designer Chris Avellone and members of the Fallout: New Vegas development team have confirmed their involvement with the project. Originally announced as System Shock Remastered, Night Dive Studios has opted to simply name the new game System Shock as they consider the effort they are putting into the title makes it more of a reboot of the franchise rather than a remastering of the original game.

Shortly after the release of System Shock: Enhanced Edition, Night Dive Studios announced their plans to develop a reimagining of System Shock as a new title for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One, featuring improved art assets and other improvements, and reworking the game to use the Unity game engine. Night Dive Studios subsequently went on to acquire the rights for System Shock and the franchise as a whole. In 2012, Night Dive Studios were able to acquire the rights for System Shock 2 and produced a digitally-distributable version updated for modern operating systems.

The rights for the System Shock series, up until 2012, had been held by Meadowbrook Insurance Group (a subsidiary of Star Insurance Company), the entity that acquired the assets of Looking Glass Studios on their closure.

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