3D Realms Shut Down? No More Duke Nukem Forever?!

Post by trog @ 10:47am 07/05/09 | 62 Comments

Shacknews is reporting that Duke Nukem Developer 3D Realms has shut down:

Phone calls and e-mails to various 3D Realms veterans have thus far gone unanswered, with 3D Realms publishing partner Take-Two and Apogee partner Deep Silver likewise unavailable for comment.

GamaSutra have also independently confirmed it. Holy crap! More will no doubt come soon. Props to Any for being the first to post about this.

Commentary: it's obviously too early to tell, but I'd say it's a bit early to write off DNF. There's no doubt a lot of code and a lot of assets that have been created and the IP for it will still be valuable. We'll have to see what happens.

duke nukem forever 3d realms

Latest Comments

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trog
Posted 10:52am 07/5/09

Any, I accidentally blew away your thread, sorry

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Jim
Posted 10:52am 07/5/09

I said it in the other thread and I'll say it again - lol
just lol

also
<+blahnana> Damn, you guys really suck at putting me in a new game

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Raven
Posted 10:53am 07/5/09

Well then, looks like DNF may well live up to its name after all.

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Steve Farrelly
Posted 10:58am 07/5/09

We got the same email as Shack, pretty much confirming it: "Deep Silver and Apogee Software are not affected by the situation at 3D Realms. Development on the Duke Nukem Trilogy is continuing as planned."

Hrm...

last edited by Steve Farrelly at 10:58:43 07/May/09

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Sean
Posted 10:56am 07/5/09

lol

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Baxtor
Posted 11:01am 07/5/09

hahahahaha, oh my is it wrong to laugh?

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Any
Posted 11:01am 07/5/09

In development at Frontline Studios, the Duke Nukem Trilogy represents three new Nintendo DS and PSP titles

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trog
Posted 11:06am 07/5/09

OK, the shock has worn off.

I find it hard to believe DNF won't come out anyway. Someone will buy the IP and the current codebase (probably for a bargain price) and finish it off. If I was a betting man I'd say EA'll pick it up, but we'll see - it'll depend what happens with 3drealms and how they wrap up the company and if they auction off the assets or whatever.

It's possible they'll fork off a new development studio to finish it, but I get the feeling in this financial climate and with its long, long, long history of development, people would be reluctant to throw investment dollars into a new studio just for that.

Anyway, it'll be super interesting to see what happens now.

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TicMan
Posted 11:06am 07/5/09

Wow, totally didn't see that coming!

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scuzzy
Posted 11:09am 07/5/09

And to think, Duke3D came out before Quake

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DeePer
Posted 11:12am 07/5/09

they could of had like 5 popular titles out of duke variants in this time i reckon ><

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darkjedi
Posted 11:13am 07/5/09

Awesome. Coming soon in 1997!

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Reverend Evil�
Posted 11:26am 07/5/09

That cover pic looks f*****g terrible

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maxe
Posted 11:30am 07/5/09

There's no doubt a lot of code and a lot of assets that have been created

seems equally likely that absolutely nothing has been created

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Martz
Posted 11:33am 07/5/09

1997, good times.. quake1 days amirite???

I hate the reality of EA gobbling up all the smaller game developing companies and are on their way to world domination and s*** games.

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infi
Posted 11:41am 07/5/09

you can't miss what you never had, right?

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Martz
Posted 11:42am 07/5/09

touche infi, I feel much better now :/

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d^
Posted 12:06pm 07/5/09

That's a shame.

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BillyHardball
Posted 12:17pm 07/5/09

I reckon DNF is one of those cases where we should have stopped paying attention to it years ago.

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HyperJ
Posted 12:32pm 07/5/09

1 - Declare company bankrupt
2 - Start up new company
3 - Buy DNF IP for $1
4 - Wipe out 10 years of delveopments costs
5 - Release Game
6 - Profit!!

Genius ....

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Mantorok
Posted 12:33pm 07/5/09

Surely 2K Games would hold onto the publishing rights?

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Dazhel
Posted 02:32pm 07/5/09

Surprising it didn't happen sooner!
In other news, the game title and properties formerly referred to as 'Duke Nukem Forever' have now been renamed to 'Duke Nukem Indefinitely'.

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simul
Posted 02:54pm 07/5/09

I wouldn't be suprised if Valve picks it up, now that TF2 is out they aren't in a running for vapourware awards, but this would get them back in the game.

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Crakaveli
Posted 02:58pm 07/5/09

It's not a marketing thing. It's true. I have nothing further to say at this time.

Straight from Joe sieglers mouth. This f*****g sucks. :/

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Crusher
Posted 02:58pm 07/5/09

Its time to fire staff and chew bubblegum... and I'm all outa gum.

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thermite
Posted 03:03pm 07/5/09

I would definitly buy DNF from valve in 9 years on a cheap long weekend bargain.

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dranged
Posted 03:42pm 07/5/09

I want to play warlords III now

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Beanith
Posted 03:54pm 07/5/09

Blizzard big announcement at Blizzcon 09 will be that they have the IP for Duke Nukem and it will be the basis of the 4th expansion for WOW. Diablo 3 will now have a release date of 2020 because of this.

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reload!
Posted 05:34pm 07/5/09

serves them right imo

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Crakaveli
Posted 06:27pm 07/5/09

Serves them right? yeah those a*******. They tried to make a game that was actually good, instead of churning out the same s*** that every other dev does. And they failed.

Yeah serves those f*****s right.

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Crakaveli
Posted 06:35pm 07/5/09

made me lol

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E.T.
Posted 07:12pm 07/5/09

3 - Buy DNF IP for $1

Because liquidators will be happy with getting just $1, sure.

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greazy
Posted 08:15pm 07/5/09

Serves them right? yeah those a*******. They tried to make a game that was actually good, instead of churning out the same s*** that every other dev does. And they failed.

Yeah serves those f*****s right.

Do you really believe that?

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kos
Posted 12:06am 08/5/09

Its time to fire staff and chew bubblegum... and I'm all outa gum.

Haha, whenever I hear that line I just always think of Peggy from Ventrilo Harassment.

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Mantra
Posted 12:14am 08/5/09

Its time to fire staff and chew bubblegum... and I'm all outa gum.

Damn you Crusher...

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Insom
Posted 01:52am 08/5/09

3d realms eh

how they managed not to die until now (their funeral is next week) is beyond me, when's the last time they actually released a game

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DM
Posted 02:05am 08/5/09

(their funeral is next week)

OK I don't know about anyone else but this really did make me laugh. Also comes as no shock that 3D Realms as gone under. The last game I remember them releasing was the s***** Duke Nukem games for the PS1 or whatever it was. How you can keep a game company afloat without a game in over 5 - 6 years is beyond me so it was bound to happen

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WetWired
Posted 08:02am 08/5/09

I wonder if their money and earnings from the first duke and others was tied up in shotty investments that have now fallen through due to the "economic something something" otherwise surely they would have seen their stash of cash drying up for a while now?

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exo
Posted 09:28am 08/5/09

List of things completed before Duke Nukem Forever

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stinky
Posted 11:00am 08/5/09

does anybody remember the unverified story some 3d realms employee wrote a while back about DNF always planned on taking a long time ( 10+ years ). I think it was called 'the seat' or 'the chair' or something like that.

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kos
Posted 11:24am 08/5/09

http://gamingisstupid.com/2009/05/06/the-chair-story-revival/

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skythra
Posted 11:54am 08/5/09

1 - Declare company bankrupt
2 - Start up new company
3 - Buy DNF IP for $1
4 - Wipe out 10 years of delveopments costs
5 - Release Game
6 - Profit!!

Tested it and proven by chrysler america.

Release unprofitable cars which send you into 8 billion dollars of debt (not saying you shouldn't run a company in debt of course you normally would have debt as a company), hit financial crisis lose even more. Declare bankruptcy and then "merge" with another crappy car maker. Noone loses jobs, just 5 billion dollars of debt gets wiped clean. Everyone wins (bar the shareholders and banks).

Capatilism doesn't work when regulations allow you to be retarded and still participate.

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`ViPER`
Posted 02:31pm 08/5/09

That article that Kos posted is a good read, and pretty funny if its all true, too hard to tell.

Developing a game over ten+ years sure is an awesome way to build up hype for the game. If duke nukem forever came out this year on steam, it would sell through the f*****g roof, even if it was only semi-decent, if it was actually good it would be crazy.

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DeePer
Posted 02:41pm 08/5/09

it's duke - how could it not sell good fullstop!

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Crakaveli
Posted 03:17pm 08/5/09

It's not true. It was done as a joke ages ago and he has just bumped it again to get a reaction.

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RUFiO
Posted 05:08pm 08/5/09

What a shame, 3DR has given me some great games and memories.

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Yerolo
Posted 05:10pm 08/5/09

We got the same email as Shack, pretty much confirming it: "Deep Silver and Apogee Software are not affected by the situation at 3D Realms. Development on the Duke Nukem Trilogy is continuing as planned."

Hrm...last edited by Steve Farrelly at 10:58:43 07/May/09

I thought Apogee was the same company as 3D Realms, but they just changed their name for all their '3D' titles from Terminal Velocity onwards...? If 3D realms go under, that would be taking Apogee with it..

The only way DNF can survive is if another company buys out the IP

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Nitro
Posted 09:45pm 08/5/09

When I was 14 I used to work in a games shop. This was about 1998/1999. We had a VHS tape that used to show game previews and one of them on it was DNF, I think it was based on the original unreal engine back then, or maybe Q2. Problem with DNF now is its been so long that average gamer is too young to really know about the Duke Nukem series or how good it was.

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Crakaveli
Posted 09:53pm 08/5/09

That was the Q2 Engine.

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Khel
Posted 03:36am 09/5/09

If 3D realms go under, that would be taking Apogee with it

Yeah, I thought that too, but apparently Apogee has been ressurected as a separate company now, and its working on other Duke games (for DS and stuff), and it wont be going under with 3d realms.

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nF
Posted 09:47am 09/5/09

Does anyone even really care anymore?

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Yerolo
Posted 10:36am 09/5/09

Problem with DNF now is its been so long that average gamer is too young to really know about the Duke Nukem series or how good it was.

I wouldn't say that....it may have been 13 years since DN3D, but it still has a fairly large cult following and its been enhanced by various mods over the years. There are a number ports being worked on for DS etc even now and it was only just re-released on XBLA late last year and sold pretty well from all accounts. Its far from being unrecognised by the younger gamers.

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Crakaveli
Posted 02:21pm 09/5/09

Here's some pics etc of the game that have made it onto the net
http://www.easy-share.com/1905097350/New%20DNF%20Pics.zip

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Crakaveli
Posted 02:25pm 09/5/09

Transparent flaps. sweet as.

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Hashy
Posted 04:04pm 09/5/09

Thanks I just got grounded.

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ravn0s
Posted 04:30pm 09/5/09

shake it baby

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Dazhel
Posted 04:30pm 09/5/09

Thanks I just got grounded.

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nF
Posted 05:12pm 09/5/09

Transparent flaps. sweet as.

I don't know about anyone else but I've got a semi.

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Vorador
Posted 05:15pm 09/5/09

Transparent flaps. sweet as.

I don't know about anyone else but I've got a semi.

Totally flapping it right now

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samedizombie
Posted 08:31am 12/5/09

Daikatana

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`ViPER`
Posted 11:21am 12/5/09

why does the face of the chick look like a dude?

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BillyHardball
Posted 11:27am 12/5/09

That's Nelson from the Simpsons...

LOL

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