14 DAY TRIAL // Gearbox Software boss Randy Pitchford talked about the studio's acquisition of the Duke Nukem franchise, and how, after getting Duke Nukem Forever officially released back in June, the studio now wants to make its own, proper Duke game.
By now, most gamers know about the ever-in-development Duke Nukem Forever, on which its original creator, 3D Realms, spent more than 11 years, and went bankrupt in the process. The project was bought by Gearbox Software, who completed it and released the game earlier this year, into impressive sales although lackluster reviews.
Now, the studio wants to make its own Duke game, at least according to its boss, Randy Pitchford, who talked about it at last weekend's PAX conference, via Kotaku.
"I know that you guys figured out that, when Gearbox acquired the franchise, we didn't do it just to make sure we could all play Duke Forever, but because we wanted to make our own Duke game," he said. "Soon, we'll talk about that, but not today."
In regards to Duke Nukem Forever, even if it was panned by critics and reviewers, Pitchford was quite pleased with the end result, and, judging by its pretty good sales, so were many people.
"I hope some people kind of enjoyed it. When I dug through all the stuff that [original development studio] 3D Realms had done, I expected a trainwreck and I was actually quite pleased. I had a lot of fun with it," he added.
"It was fun for me, and I'm really glad that we not only rescued the franchise but took the time to make sure the world could see what those guys had been doing for all of those years. And I'm also proud of the things we added to it. I think we did some things to make it a little better."
We already heard a rumor earlier this month, which said that Gearbox is planning a full-pledged reboot of the Duke Nukem franchise, with a new title called Duke Begins.