Quote:Update 3: 3D Realms webmaster Joe Siegler has commented on the shut down, stating: "It's not a marketing thing. It's true. I have nothing further to say at this time."
Siegler's post also reflects the unexpected nature of the situation, as he was unaware of the impending shut down during an interview conducted yesterday afternoon.
Update 2: Duke Nukem Forever publisher Take-Two has confirmed to Shacknews that it was not funding ongoing development of the 3D Realms project.
"We can confirm that our relationship with 3D Realms for Duke Nukem Forever was a publishing arrangement, which did not include ongoing funds for development of the title," said Take-Two VP of communications Alan Lewis in a prepared statement.
"In addition, Take-Two continues to retain the publishing rights to Duke Nukem Forever," he added.
Very strange stuff... what the heck happened here? 3DRealms was self-funding the game, so Take Two has nothing to do with this. So um... yeah, we have no idea why their funding suddenly disappeared. Very, very sad, of course (I love Apogee...), but strange...
Oh, and that first update confirmed that the initial report that the new Apogree and those DS/PSP Duke Nukem games aren't affected by this. So they can still fund that, but not the main company? Or was that already funded, so that's why it wasn't affected? It's being done by an external developer of course, but published by Apogee, a subsidiary of Apogee, aka 3DRealms... so yeah, odd.
Duke Nukem : Gone forever!!
Sounds like there might have been an internal split at 3DRealms.
12 years of hope = 12 pounds of bullshit.
Have you guys seen the pics? If it does get made, it will be brilliant. It will sell systems, it will reinvent the Duke and people will quote his one-liners for the next decade or two. But alas, such a thing shall not happen. I wish it would get made...
According to an ex-3DRealms employee, the whole DNF debacle was actually a scam perpetrated by 3DRealms, Epic, and other Duke Nukem developers to generated a contiunuous stream of hype for Epic's graphics engines:
http://gamingisstupid.com/2009/05/06/the...y-revival/
I agree with the people who say that that story's not true.
This was posted on the 3DRealms forums (which are still up, for the moment, though the site isn't)...
http://forums.3drealms.com/vb/showthread...33&page=26
CAT-scan Wrote:Haven't posted here in a few years. Don't know if anyone remember me, been registered under a couple of names, this being the last one. No matter. I've been here pretty long, felt that I had to say a final goodbye.
You guys were the very last bastion of the old school (ironically together with iD), and for me this is officially the end of the old PC gaming world. I've been pretty dormant in terms of gaming the last few years simply because the games are pretty much uniformly crap. It was so awesome being a gamer back when Duke3D was released. There was innovation and drive, and developers seemed to be motivated by creative spirit and wanting to make something truly worth while. Everyone knew what to do because we were all gamers. What could go wrong?
Now, we're lucky to have just a select few developers around that bother with design, with gameplay, with stuff that actually matters. Games that don't cater to the lowest common denominator, or to the publishers or the PR departements. People who made games for gamers.
I felt that 3DR was keeping some of that spirit alive, even now.
I remember when the first Quake-mockups was released in PCG UK. I was in ecstacy. Between making maps, chatting on IRC with my buds on what sector effector did what, and talking about the next LAN (where we'd play Duke, exclusively), I would drool at those shots and imagine how awesome DNF would be. That was the reality then. You could trust great developers to make great games. 3DR was keeping that naïve belief in a truly good game alive. I had that belief even after I stopped coming here to the forums. After all the vaporware babble and the endless line of haters writing crap about 3DR. Now it's all gone; and pretty much the last of the old school developers has gone down the shitter. The rest of them having been swallowed alive by suits a long time ago or having their teams being replaced by slaves for hire (read Lucasarts), or simply gone out of business because the new industry couldn't tolerate development that wasn't mass production.
So — So long to you and the old world. You'll always be part of the legacy of the golden years of gaming. Too bad you couldn't be kicking ass and taking names in this new era. If anyone could have pulled it off, it would have been you.
Indeed... one of the last real bastions of PC gaming's greatest times, gone. The first game developer I truly loved other than Nintendo (whose games I didn't actually have other than that one Game & Watch at the time I started playing Apogee games), gone. It's so, so horribly sad... :( I haven't said much because it's just so shocking and sad, but yeah... this is the worst thing I can think of in the industry since Interplay's collapse back in 2004, and before that the effective deaths of Sierra and Lucasarts. Is nobody left from the great days of computer gaming anymore? Awful... just awful. :bummed:
From Pharaoh's Tomb to Commander Keen to Dark Ages to Raptor to Duke 3D and more, Apogee developed or published some of the best computer games around... and I really did want to think that DNF would eventually come out. If it really doesn't, after all this time... wow, that's awful. I mean, I don't love FPSes (I only have Duke Nukem 3D because it came free with an issue of PC Gamer in 2000 or 2001, for instance), but still... awful.
Hmm... this sounds much more plausible, and at least is an attempt at an explanation. Don't know if it's actually true though.
http://www.duke4.net/comment.php?comment.news.267
Quote: 1. George and Scott own equal parts of 3D Realms.
2. DNF taking forever to make costs tons of money.
3. Scott who is arguably the smarter businessman gets tired of this over time and doesn't want to dump his money into it anymore.
4. Scott looks to other things like Radar Group and newly launched Apogee Software LLC and leaves 3D Realms in Georges hands.
5. Scott is still technically a manager at 3D Realms but is effectively done with 3D Realms at that point.
6. Scott is now free to run companies as he sees fit without dealing with a 50% partner.
7. A year or so later George wasn't able to handle it, especially with lack of Scott's personal and financial cooperation.
8. Eventually funds begin to run low.
9. Since Scott is out, and so is money, George drives out to California to show Take 2 the game in an attempt to wow them into funding development to finish DNF.
10. Vague references were made to Take 2 possibly having (verbally) promising money, but didn't deliver.
11. When George requested the $5 million from Take 2 so DNF development could be funded.
12. Take 2 counter-offered with giving 3D Realms $30 million instead.... *IF*3D Realms sells all rights to the Duke IP. (currently Take2's only has publishing rights)
13. George\They refuse this and keep the Duke IP, instead shutting down the company and going on life support.
14. The purpose of not selling the IP is because the Duke IP still has the potential to make money, and it is their trademark. It would be like iD selling the Doom IP.
15. George is said to have previously went to iD Software and Epic in an attempt to make a deal with funding for them, but is turned down.
16. ..was also said to still have plans to contact other companies to make similar requests.
17. A company in a better position to spend $5 million, such as EA or Microsoft are seen as the most likely candidates for possibly investing in saving DNF.
Failing to meet deadlines not just for DNF but their other titles like Prey,3drealms was clearly run by plants.
![[Image: 3drealms_history.jpg]](http://www.gamemag.ru/arts/3drealms_history.jpg)
3DRealms really has no one to blame for this but themselves. They had ten years to finish this game and they have a grand total of nothing to show for it. Frankly, I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner.
I'm surprised it happened at all, given that they should have had enough income sources to keep going, and the project seems to have been going well and getting closer to the end (see all the leaks of story and art and all that stuff...).
Update from 3D Realms!
http://www.shacknews.com/onearticle.x/58681
Quote:3D Realms Release Pertaining to Recent Events Surrounding Duke Nukem Forever
Dallas, TX (May 18, 2009) - In light of recent press articles and statements by Take-Two (to the media and in a lawsuit), we want to set the record straight on some issues.
Despite rumors and statements to the contrary, 3D Realms (3DR) has not closed and is not closing. 3DR retains ownership of the Duke Nukem franchise. 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.
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.
Take-Two retains publishing rights for the DNF game, although 3DR retains certain rights to sell the game directly to the public. Late last year, 3DR began negotiations with Take-Two to provide funding to complete the DNF game. In the meantime, 3DR was hitting mutually-agreed milestones, despite not having a new agreement finalized. Take-Two was well aware that 3DR needed the funding to continue the DNF game development. Suddenly, after months of negotiations, Take-Two materially changed the parameters of the proposed funding agreement. 3DR informed Take-Two that it could not financially afford the changes Take-Two was suggesting and would be forced to release the team if an agreement was not reached. Take-Two made a last minute proposal to acquire the Duke Nukem franchise and the 3DR development team. Take-Two's proposal was unacceptable to 3DR for many reasons, including no upfront money, no guarantee minimum payment, and no guarantee to complete the DNF game. From 3DR's perspective, we viewed Take-Two as trying to acquire the Duke Nukem franchise in a "fire sale." Those negotiations fell through on May 4th, a deal never materialized, and the DNF team was sadly released a few days later.
Less than a week after the DNF team was released, Take-Two filed its lawsuit in New York, seeking immediate temporary injunctive relief. The court denied Take-Two's request for a temporary restraining order. While we cannot comment on the details of the ongoing lawsuit, we believe Take-Two's lawsuit is without merit and merely a bully tactic to obtain ownership of the Duke Nukem franchise. We will vigorously defend ourselves against this publisher.
-3DR isn't gone, they just had to fire the whole DNF team.
-Take Two tried to take over the Duke Nukem franchise. They haven't succeeded... but might have killed the game, despite it finally being on track and doing well towards release.
-We still don't know why 3DR's other financing fell through. Was that last report from Duke4.net accurate in saying why that was?
Quote:and the project seems to have been going well and getting closer to the end (see all the leaks of story and art and all that stuff...).
Those videos and screenshots looked rough [like pre-Half Life 2 rough], though. I doubt it would have been ready before the end of 2010 at the least.
They'd restarted again in 2006 I believe (and hired mostly new staff), so it's only since then that they did that stuff. Considering that it was coming along well... on track I think. :(
I think it looks good, I wouldn't get distracted or flinch at graphics like that.
I like this demo reel.
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