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OtherSide Entertainment, Inc.
FormerlyCerulean Sky Productions, Inc. (2013–2014)
Company typePrivate
IndustryVideo games
Founded2013; 11 years ago (2013)
FounderPaul Neurath
Headquarters
Boston, Massachusetts
,
U.S.
Number of locations
2 studios (2016)
Key people
Websiteotherside-e.com

OtherSide Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer based in Boston, Massachusetts, founded in 2013 by Looking Glass Studios co-founder Paul Neurath. In June 2016, the company opened a second studio in Austin, Texas, led by Warren Spector. OtherSide developed Underworld Ascendant (2018), a spiritual successor to Looking Glass's Ultima Underworld series, and is developing a new intellectual property.

History

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Prior to OtherSide, Paul Neurath had been a video game designer for Origin Systems and in 1990 founded Blue Sky Productions, which would later become Looking Glass Studios. Looking Glass developed numerous games that are considered highly influential on computer gaming, including System Shock and its sequel, the Ultima Underworld series, and the Thief series. Neurath had been the principal designer for the Ultima Underworld series. Following the closure of Looking Glass in 2000 and later the Boston offices of Zynga in 2012, Neurath opted to found OtherSide Entertainment (originally named Cerulean Sky Productions) in 2013, to bring the Underworld series to modern gaming.[1][2] The studio includes many former Looking Glass developers, including Nate Wells and Tim Stellmach.[3] The studio name "OtherSide" is a play on the name "Looking Glass".[4]

In February 2016, Warren Spector joined OtherSide as its studio director.[5] Spector had been advising the studio since its creation, and stated that he would establish and lead an Austin, Texas, studio for OtherSide by June that year.[6]

Hasbro revealed at its February 2021 Investor Event that it was working with the studio in the "longer term".[7][8] In March 2022, Spector stated that the studio was working on a Dungeons & Dragons game with Hasbro subsidiary Wizards of the Coast.[9][10] Jason Schreier, Bloomberg News, commented that the cancellation of multiple unnamed video game projects by Wizards of the Coast in January 2023 led to a small layoff at the company and that "the reorganization will land hard for several independent studios such as Boston-based OtherSide Entertainment and Bellevue, Washington-based Hidden Path Entertainment, both of which were working on games for Wizards of the Coast".[11][12]

Games

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OtherSide was founded initially to create a sequel to Ultima Underworld, titled Underworld Ascendant. Neurath, as the designer for Ultima Underworld, wanted to bring back the Underworld franchise, "making it more vital than ever before".[13]

In December 2015, OtherSide announced that it was also working on System Shock 3, with it set be published by Starbreeze Studios, having made a deal with Nightdive Studios owners of the System Shock series to publish titles within the series, also making a deal to allow OtherSide to produce more games in the franchise.[14] However, in February 2019 due to financial troubles the company was experiencing, reverting the distribution rights back to Nightdive while dropping out of the development and funding for System Shock 3.[15]

In May 2020, OtherSide confirmed that Tencent obtained the rights to develop future System Shock titles.[16] However, Spector affirmed that OtherSide is still involved in its development alongside Tencent.[17]

In March 2022, Spector stated that System Shock 3 is not being developed by OtherSide. It remains to be seen if the game is canceled. They also confirmed that they are working on a new IP. In November 2022, the name of the IP was revealed as Argos: Riders on the Storm.

In January 2023, It was reported a Dungeons and Dragons game being developed by OtherSide was canceled.[18][19]

Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s)
2016 Underworld Overlord Android OtherSide Entertainment
2018 Underworld Ascendant Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows 505 Games
TBA Argos: Riders on the Storm [20] TBA TBA
TBA Thick as Thieves [21] TBA TBA

References

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  1. ^ Makuch, Eddie (July 1, 2014). "New Underworld Game in the Works for PC, Dev Promises Not to "Mess With" Original Formula". GameSpot. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  2. ^ Hester, Blake (April 13, 2016). "Watch First Trailer for Warren Spector's 'Underworld Ascendant'". Variety. Retrieved November 23, 2018.
  3. ^ Smith, Adam (February 10, 2015). "Beyond Looking Glass: Underworld Ascendant Interview". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  4. ^ Peckham, Matt (July 1, 2014). "There's a New Underworld Game in Town, but It's Not an Ultima". Time. Retrieved February 18, 2016.
  5. ^ Smith, Adam (February 17, 2016). "Warren Spector Working On System Shock 3". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  6. ^ Sarkar, Samit (February 17, 2016). "Warren Spector joins OtherSide Entertainment for Underworld Ascendant, System Shock 3". Polygon. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  7. ^ Says, Akeashar (September 26, 2021). "Wizards Of The Coast's New Studio Is Hiring For Its AAA G.I. Joe Game". Kotaku Australia. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  8. ^ "Edited Transcript HAS.OQ - Hasbro Inc Investor Event 2021". Hasbro. February 25, 2021. p. 12. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  9. ^ "How Warren Spector got back to making his latest game". VentureBeat. March 12, 2022. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  10. ^ Macgregor, Jody (March 13, 2022). "Warren Spector confirms Otherside last worked on System Shock 3 in 2019, and that 'NFTs are ridiculous'". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  11. ^ Schreier, Jason (January 3, 2023). "Hasbro's Wizards of the Coast Cancels Video Game Projects". Bloomberg.com. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  12. ^ Schreier, Jason (January 3, 2023). "Hasbro's Wizards of the Coast Cancels Video Game Projects". BNN Bloomberg. Archived from the original on January 3, 2023. Retrieved January 4, 2023.
  13. ^ Takahashi, Dean (July 1, 2014). "Paul Neurath's OtherSide Entertainment game studio revives the Underworld franchise — without the Ultima name". VentureBeat. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  14. ^ Frank, Allegra (December 14, 2015). "System Shock 3 is officially happening". Polygon. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
  15. ^ Tarason, Dominic (February 11, 2019). "System Shock 3 returns to OtherSide after Starbreeze sell publishing rights". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  16. ^ "Tencent is now in charge of System Shock 3". TechSpot. May 21, 2020. Retrieved March 25, 2021.
  17. ^ "Warren Spector studio says it's 'still involved' with System Shock 3 after Tencent swoop". VGC. June 2, 2020. Retrieved December 20, 2021.
  18. ^ "Wizards of the Coast Reportedly Cancels at Least 5 Games, Including 2 D&D Titles from Hidden Path & OtherSide". January 4, 2023.
  19. ^ "Wizards of the Coast reportedly cancels "at least" five games". Games Industry. January 4, 2023. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
  20. ^ "Our Games".
  21. ^ "Our Games".
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