14 DAY TRIAL // Duke Nukem has been the subject of a lot of news reports recently, as one of the most highly anticipated games to feature the famous character, Duke Nukem Forever, has been placed on permanent hiatus as the developer that was in charge with creating it, 3D Realms, closed down.
Now though, it seems that Take Two, the company that has the rights to the intellectual property, has called 3D Realms to court for “failure to deliver” the game and the fact that it “continually delayed” it. Continually delayed indeed, as the title was announced 12 years ago, in which time Take Two invested over 12 million dollars in order for the company to complete it.
Neither the New York County Civil Court nor Bloomberg revealed just what Take Two wanted to get from this trial, as the damages it seeks have remained confidential. The complaint reads that “Apogee repeatedly assured Take-Two and the video-gaming community that it was diligently working toward competing development of the PC Version of the Duke Nukem Forever.”
3D Realms appears as Apogee Software Ltd. in this trial, but it shouldn't be confused with Apogee Software LLC, which is hard at work creating the Duke Nukem Trilogy game, for which it is currently looking for a mascot.
The situation at 3D Realms seems pretty interesting as, after luring Take Two to provide cash incentives in order to help speed up the development of the game, the company managed to make Duke Nukem Forever an “industry joke” and didn't get to create a final product that Take Two could publish.
We will keep you posted on how this trial will develop, and what will be the fate of Duke Nukem Forever, a title that gamers can only fantasize about. Until then though, you can check out some artwork and a video of the title's gameplay that 3D Realms actually managed to make.