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VIRTUALISATION The Duke is dead, long live the Duke
VIRTUALISATION The Duke is dead, long live the Duke | The Duke is dead, long live the Duke |
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| by Mike Bantick | |
| Tuesday, 19 May 2009 | |
  
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Duke fans who have not purchased a video game since 1997 when Duke Nukem Forever was first announced, might want to go and splash out on a new title, as the chances of getting their hands on the Duke may be slim, despite a recent “We’re not dead” statement from developer 3D Realms. If you haven’t followed the story so far; vapourware pin-up boy Duke Nukem Forever - a game that has been in development at 3D Realms for over twelve years now – looked as if it had finally died a not-so-graceful death with the closure of the 3D Realms studio. This prompted, not only suspicion that the closure was a mere publicity stunt, designed to keep the cult of the Duke alive, in a strange kind of way, but also legal action from publisher Take-Two. Take-Two supposedly not happy in waiting twelve years that they have been sinking, what amounts to, one million US dollars per year into. Well it looks like the story is not complete, with 3D Realms issuing a press statement yesterday about the whole hullabaloo. The statement, in part refers to the Duke saga: Due to lack of funding, however, we are saddened to confirm that we let the Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) development team go on May 6th, while we regroup as a company. While 3DR is a much smaller studio now, we will continue to operate as a company and continue to license and co-create games based upon the Duke Nukem franchise. It goes on to explain the money side of Take-Two’s involvement with DNF. As some of you may know, Take-Two filed a lawsuit last week containing various accusations and claims against 3DR and the uncompleted DNF game. Take-Two never paid 3DR advances or any signing bonus or any other funds related to DNF, up until July 2008, at which time they paid $2.5m in connection with another agreement for an unannounced game. This is the sum total Take-Two has paid 3DR in connection with DNF. Take-Two claims that they paid $12m to GT Interactive/Infogrames to acquire the publishing rights for the DNF game. To be clear, 3DR was not a party to that transaction and did not receive any money from it. When the DNF game was originally signed with GT Interactive in 1998, GT paid 3DR a $400,000 signing bonus. Up until July 2008, this was the only publisher money we received for the DNF game. Meanwhile, 3DR put over $20m into the production of DNF. The statement also mentions that Take-Two do indeed retain the publishing rights to DNF, yet 3D Realms maintains certain rights to sell the game directly to the public. How this quite works, especially with a game that most likely will not be completed, will be interesting to see. And so the name calling and hair-pulling is set to start now. Duke Nukem would be proud of the carnage he has caused. |
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