|
|
3D Realms closes down
Author: Joe MartinPublished: 7th May 2009
3D Realms has officially closed down, likely killing any chance Duke Nukem Forever had of making it to market.
The rumour first spread among major gaming sites such as Shacknews and RockPaperShotgun before Duke Nukem Forever publisher Take-Two and 3D Realms webmaster Joe Siegler confirmed the closure.
While 3D Realms had worked on and published some of the most impressive and memorable games we've seen, such as Max Payne and Prey, the series the studio is most well known for is probably Duke Nukem. Originally a side-scrolling platform game, the titular Duke Nukem shot into pop culture with the release of the boisterous and brash Duke Nukem 3D.
The latest game in the Duke Nukem series, Duke Nukem Forever became something of a running joke among gamers however as the development of the game stretched on and on...and on. 3D Realms' decision to change engines multiple times and to re-design the game from scratch on at least two occasions meant that the game was still not ready for release despite being having been in production for 13 years.
While Take-Two and 3D Realms have both confirmed the closure, neither have offered any substantial comment at this point and the fate of current 3D Realms projects is unclear. All that is known is that Deep Silver's re-release of the original Duke Nukem Trilogy on the PSP and DS is unaffected by the closure and that the recently revived spin-off publisher Apogee will continue to operate in some form. For the main 3D Realms studio however, it's the end of the road.
Take-Two may have been instrumental in the closure of the studio it seems, having finally decided to halt spiralling development costs for Duke Nukem Forever. Take-Two will also retain the rights to publish Duke Nukem Forever somehow, meaning that the company may yet elect to swoop in, salvage what it can, patch it up and release the unrealised opus. That's pure speculation however, as Take-Two hasn't yet voiced any intent to do so.
"It is the Company's policy to not comment on its contractual relationships, nor do we comment on rumors and speculation," said Take-Two's Alan Lewis. "That said, 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. In addition, Take-Two continues to retain the publishing rights to Duke Nukem Forever."
A sad day indeed and we'll be sure to raise a glass to the Duke later tonight, but you can let us know your thoughts in the forums.
Related
Comments (49)- Site Links:
- About
- Email Editor
- Newsletter
- Privacy
- RSS
- Score Guide
- Our Other Websites:
- Auto Express
- Channel Pro
- Computer Buyer
- Computer Shopper
- Den of Geek
All content © bit-tech.net 2000-2010
© Copyright Dennis Publishing Limited licensed by Felden
Pity.
(croteam if you read this its RiZlA Ha ha ha (SS:FE))
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo...
A little part inside of me just died.
Somehow, if Take-Two find enough it can salvage, we might actually get a release date out of it.
Your ass, your face, what's the difference,
Star¤Dagger
And with that the last of the ancients has fallen. Fare thee well.
Suppose all the DNF teasers of the last 2 years were in a bid to get some more time out of Take-Two.
PS: I know it's cheesy, but we can not let them go down without proper tribute. Seems pretty suitable actually.
This should have been expected for any company that made some good games over a decade ago, then a mediocre one, and spent 12 years ****ing about with either a bunch of lazy developers, a half-wit project manager, or some designers that had no decision making ability. Anyone with half an ounce of project management knowledge knows "When its done" is not an acceptable deadline, by any means. Even if it's not internal, it spreads the wrong message, if the team are thinking "Oh, the fans aren't expecting this in the next 12 months" then they're less motivated to do the bloody work.
Good riddance. I hope they never resurface. Or, if they do, I hope they do it without the same mentality.
No more "Shake it baby!" :(
Anyway, I think NOW Duke Nukem has a chance. Why? It's like FO3. In hands of Interplay we would never see it again. Now, perhaps a new developer would turn that into another shitty shallow title like what Bethesda done with FO3.
edit: sorry, the above is exactly what i feel.
I smell censorship out the ass, if someone picks up Duke. If Jon St. John doesn't do the voice of Duke either, the title is dead before it even hits the shelves.
Topic: Way to go Scott and George! You ****in picky *******s burned down you own studio because DNF wasn't good enough.
The reality now is that it will likely be turned into a half-arsed cash cow.
I was really looking forward to that. Prey was damn good fun.
Pity, but not altogether unexpected - DN:3D is still good for a bit of blastage now and again, and I much prefer it to Doom et.al.
Open-source the code for DNF - at least then there'll be a fighting chance of a decent game rather than just another production-line shooter.
DNF's endless dev-cycle made me lose interest in it long ago, but the people who work(ed) at 3D Realms, Apogee, ID, Softdisk, defined a significant portion of my childhood and my interests.
I daresay they had an impact on who I am today and what I'm doing with my life - That's not something to be said lightly.
To see 3D Realms shut down like this is saddening for me, regardless of whether DNF was going to be worth the wait or not.
Shame about the Duke, but in all honesty; I had forgotten about DNF, and now ... meh.
I made reference to it in one of the posts about it.. Can't remember whether it was the BT thread, or the Kotaku news..
SIR, dare not speak ill of our dearly departed.
Dear Valve.....get the (source) Duke Nukem Forever(-Life) so we play it some day,you are more than able to handle 2 of the best FPS in PC gaming history.
As much as I would have liked to see DNF on the shelves, the dev team were just idiots.
Duke was fun funny game charachter and I enjoyed the games, I'll be sad I never got to see him in dx10.
BUT>
It's like spending 3 years make a 1 year olds birthday cake.
3d realms going bust gives us less choice.
But any company unable to produce a game that THEY hype in 12 years is not worth crying over.
This game was never going to come out and lets be honest - I really dont know how it would have been successful.
In its day it was alright at best, just a doom clone mixed in with some chap that looks like Arnie in his hay-day sprouting random 1-liners....again like some big austrian chap we know.
Finally this ongoing, running joke which can only be compared to the likes of "dave" from only fools and horses....can come to an end....good riddence!
That would be awesome if Valve was able to get the rights to Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein and the likes.
Now Duke Nukem 3D was a funny game, but a silly really stupid-nonsense one... With all those really awesome FPS that have came out ever since DN3D, it will be a really tough job to create a good game out of it. It has to be funny, look great, play smooth, have an interesting story, replayability, multiplayer, co-op, etc........ The bar has been raised gentlemen, and obviously 3d-Realms wasn't able to pull it off
Any one wants to step in? 2k, Activision, Valve, Treryach (lol.. just kidding), even EA... either way DN Forever's right can be traded.
But the one studio that might actually do it will have a 13 year old mount of hype on their shoulders...
Duke Nukem I feel had its day in the 90's. If it ever were to be released now, I suspect it would feel extremely dated gameplay wise. It could have got away with it 8/9 years ago, but not now. Shame it's gone, but they kinda brought upon themselve by arsing about for over a decade.
There was a mod group that made a Duke Nukem HL2 mod. It didn't come out because 3DRealms took legal action and released a cease and desist order. The mod was about 80% complete when this all went down.
oh that could be cool, they should start it back up and if they still have legal issues call it Nuke Dukem and change a few things and call it a parody and then no legal issues will come up ^__^
Hmmm maybe we will see DNF afterall... well maybe
Hail to the King, baby!