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3D Realms Vs. Take-Two Getting Ugly
By Mark Barley: 2009-05-16 13:44:21
Things are getting messy in Duke Nukem's neck of the woods over at recently closed down 3D Realms Studios. It was first reported on May 6th that 3D Realms, the company behind classic games such as Duke Nukem 3D, Commander Keen, and Wolfenstein 3D, would indeed be closing their developing doors for good. The news apparently came down one day after 3D Realms celebrated the 17th anniversary of Wolfenstein 3D's release.
A few days after news hit that 3D Realms was shutting down, art work from the unfinished Duke Nukem Forever project began to surface. You can check out the artwork right here The leaked artwork and screen shots show character models and enemy renders, as well as few pictures of game environment. These leaks prompted many fans of the old franchise to become angry and question why the game was not going to be finished and published. Publisher Take Two Interactive recently told Shacknews that they (Take Two) own the exclusive rights to publish Duke Nukem Forever and that the contract they have is binding. The rights to the game apparently never expire and Take Two controls the eventual distribution of the game. On May 14th, publisher Take-Two Interactive filed a law suit against 3D Realms for failure to deliver/finish the long-awaited Duke Nukem Forever title, which has been in development for over 12 years now. Take-Two claimed that 3D Realms breached their contract when they shut down last week. A spokesman for Take-Two confirmed that the publisher would not be providing funds for 3D Realms in order to finish the project. The two companies have never been on equal terms with Take-Two expressing concern that the title would be finished by 2003 only to have the President of 3D Realms remind the publisher that the project was “being self funded and that they needed to STFU”. Interesting choice of words from the President of a video game developer, if you ask me. The day after the law suit was filed, the court documents started showing up online. These documents basically detail an injunction and a restraining order against 3D Realms to keep the Duke Nukem Forever assets intact for these court proceedings. The documents also detail that 3D Realms is to take all the necessary security measures to ensure the integrity of the game's source code. They also file for a motion that would make it impossible for 3D Realms to “disclose, distribute, transfer, or sell” any of the information regarding the game. The documents reveal that Take-Two claims that 3D Realms owes them “millions of dollars” for the breach of contract. Shortly thereafter, rumors began to swirl that 3D Realms had decided to shut down instead of selling the rights to Duke Nukem Forever to their publisher, Take-Two Interactive, for a sum of $30 million. 3D Realms quickly refuted this rumor. Another rumor suggested that Take-Two offered to sell 3D Realms the publishing rights to the game for $30 million, which has not been addressed. Either way, someone is not telling the truth here. Why wouldn't 3D Realms sell the right to finish developing the game to Take-Two and use the money to address some of their financial burdens? This will quickly get a lot uglier than it already is, as there does not seem to be a quick resolution to this fiasco in sight and Mr. Nukem will not be the only one left with egg on his face.
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