3D Realms has shut its doors, and now Take-Two, who'd been planning to publish Duke Nukem Forever, is suing for breach of contract.
According to Bloomberg, the GTA publisher is suing Apogee Software, a 3D Realms-related entity which is the current rights-holder, claiming the studio's closure terminated development on the game -- which has been ongoing since 1997.
"Apogee continually delayed the completion date for the Duke Nukem Forever," says Take-Two in the complaint. "Apogee repeatedly assured Take-Two and the video-gaming community that it was diligently working toward competing development of the PC version of the Duke Nukem Forever."
Take-Two says it paid $12 million for the publishing rights to the game all the way back in 2000, an agreement it renewed in 2007.
At the time, developer 3D Realms had indicated that it planned to complete Duke Nukem Forever in 2008 -- but later backed off that statement.
When 3D Realms' closure was announced last week, Take-Two noted that it still owns the publishing rights to the game, and that its agreement never included funding for development.
This is one I've never quite understood... It doesn't take 10+ years to make a FPS. They started in 1997, got Take-Two to be their publisher in 2000, and Take-Two renew'd the agreement 10 years after the game was started in 2007. They should really look at who in their company made that renewal decision, no?
I've never worked on a game published by Take-Two, but the other publishers I've worked with set milestones, and if you don't hit your milestone, you got a problem. From the publisher's perspective, it would seem that this game shoulda been axe'd long ago. If I were Take-Two, my patience would have run dry around 2004. Heck they should be thanking 3D Realms for breaking the deal and not having to fund "Game in development forever" any more.
The only conclusion I can draw from all this is: This must be one heck of a game...
Either way, you'd think after that long of a time they'd have cut their losses and ditched it. That, and what the heck was 3DRealms doing all this time? How anyone could work for a company like that and not feel guilty is beyond me.
I heard a tale (I do not have a better name for it) that 3D Realms and Epic made a agreement where Unreal engine would be more or less co-developed... Epic made unreal engine, shipped alpha to 3DR, 3DR fiddled with it to make DNF, find bugs, and show epic all capabilities of it and make a press release that DNF will be released (showing Unreal engine capabilities to everyone), driving more and more epic business, then DNF would re-start with the next version, and so on...
I guess that they had planned to release DNF only when they could not find any new improvement to make in two years... Since it is not this point yet, they go on, using each new technique invented, maybe in hope to prove that they are better than John Carmack (the graphic programmer god)
3D Realms has gone through how many development cycles and game engines. Do they have any money left, assuming they have not blown the money on a Fleet of stretch SUV's or god knows what.
Let me make a little narrative.
Assuming Rockstar wins the lawsuit. Its like trying to bleed water from a stone. They Dont have any money, what else is there left to win you say....
Duke Nukem IP. Even though its a joke. people still remember it.(assuming 3D Realms owns it)
Lo and behold after the dust settles mysteriously Rockstar had a Dukem Game on the back burner ready and waiting.
Of course thats assuming Rockstar is not trying to sue to get their money back (LOL, good luck with that Rockstar)
Seriously, I WANT ANOTHER DUKE NUKEM GAAAAMEEEEEE!!! I STARTED WITH THE 2D ONES!!!! I LIKE THEM ALLL!!!!!
(altough I liked more the 2D ones than 3D... for some reason...)
I've never worked on a game published by Take-Two, but the other publishers I've worked with set milestones, and if you don't hit your milestone, you got a problem. From the publisher's perspective, it would seem that this game shoulda been axe'd long ago. If I were Take-Two, my patience would have run dry around 2004. Heck they should be thanking 3D Realms for breaking the deal and not having to fund "Game in development forever" any more.
The only conclusion I can draw from all this is: This must be one heck of a game...
I guess that they had planned to release DNF only when they could not find any new improvement to make in two years... Since it is not this point yet, they go on, using each new technique invented, maybe in hope to prove that they are better than John Carmack (the graphic programmer god)
http://www.breakitdownblog.com/3d-realms-epic-dnf-was-a-guerilla-marketing-schem
e-the-chair-story/
This says it all
Let me make a little narrative.
Assuming Rockstar wins the lawsuit. Its like trying to bleed water from a stone. They Dont have any money, what else is there left to win you say....
Duke Nukem IP. Even though its a joke. people still remember it.(assuming 3D Realms owns it)
Lo and behold after the dust settles mysteriously Rockstar had a Dukem Game on the back burner ready and waiting.
Of course thats assuming Rockstar is not trying to sue to get their money back (LOL, good luck with that Rockstar)