Star Trek actor William Shatner is reportedly interested in bringing his controversial TekWar franchise back to games. Released in 1995, the video game adaptation of Shatner’s Trek-meets-TJ-Hooker has been classed as abandonware since 2006.
According to NightDive Studios CEO Stephen Kick, Shatner is more than interested in bringing TekWar back from the dead. Revealed on Twitter, Kick revealed that the 91-year-old actor is actively looking to bring his franchise back to the games industry.
Responding to a joke tweet claiming that the TekWar game should get a remake in the style of EA’s Dead Space, Kick revealed that this isn’t out of the realm of possibility. In fact, William Shatner is quite interested in making sure it does happen.
“The terrible thing about this is I know the rights holder and that Shatner is on board,” Kick revealed. However, he didn’t say if NightDive Studios is interested in fulfilling Shatner’s lofty desires.
Originally written during the filming of Star Trek V, a movie Shatner wrote, directed and starred in, the TekWar series expanded into a comic books, TV movies, a series and, of course, a video game. The series is also scheduled to received an adult animated cartoon in the near future.
Unfortunately, for Shatner, the 1995 TekWar video game was not particularly well received. While some praised the game’s immersive changes to the FPS franchise, others hated it. One reviewer for NextGeneration gave the game a 1-out-of-5, claiming it’s only for “fanatical fans” of William Shatner.
Nevertheless, the TekWar universe does offer enough unique style to warrant a from-the-ground-up remake. Whether or not it will is to be decided. (Personally, we think not.)
NightDive Studios is currently working on another classic FPS remake. Announced in 2015, the upcoming System Shock remake will bring the immersive sim game to the modern day. Remade entirely in Unreal Engine 4, the remake is scheduled to release in March of this year.
Explore new topics and discover content that's right for you!