Gearbox Has Done Some Early Work on a New Duke Nukem Game

28
Lee Bradley

Gearbox Software has completed some early work on a brand new Duke Nukem game, despite the giant dog turd that was the series' last outing, Duke Nukem Forever. Speaking at the Develop Conference in Brighton, Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford also said that he's looking for studios to help on the project.

"I did not acquire the franchise merely so we could all experience Duke Nukem Forever," said Pitchford. "That was the toll to pay to give Duke a chance. That said, I liked that game. I got to see it from a slightly different perspective and it was marvellous to me."

"We’ve done some concept development [for a new game] and I think the challenges are there," he added. "Gearbox is very busy. I think the faster way is that a correct developer can become interested and we can work with them. I think it’s a challenging problem. But, I’ll tell you one thing. When it does happen, there’s no doubt that the whole industry will turn its head and look.

"Getting attention is one of the hardest things to do. In fact, that’s probably the biggest challenge that [Duke Nukem] Forever had. For 10 years, these guys promised that it was going to be the greatest game ever right? It was legendary in its vapourware status.

"So it has this particular pole of attention that makes it probably three or four times more famous than Borderlands as a franchise. Not necessarily from a gamer's [perspective] that are really clued in to what’s going on in game development in the industry, but certainly among the greater whole community."

So... erm... yeah. Fancy playing a new Duke Nukem Game?

Oh and by the way, if you want to read the best thing ever written about Duke Nukem Forever, you can do so through here. It's a Wired piece that ran in 2009 detailing how 3D Realms ballsed up the game long before Gearbox got in on the action. It's one of my favourite pieces of video game writing.

Comments
28
  • Get fucked Pitchford no-one will buy another Duke Nukem game if Gearbox has something to do with it.
  • #! totally agree with you if Gearbox has its name in another Duke game it'll bomb again. Of course Gearbox is looking for someone to make the new Duke so when it bombs Gearbox has someone to blame and we will have another Aliens: CM on our hands.
  • no thanks just hurry and make borderlands 3.
  • "When you get to hell, tell 'em Duke sent ya".
  • Get SEGA to make it because you guys make awesome games together!
  • The only way I could see it working is if they changed the whole character, that for a lot of people was the problem, he was out dated, with out dated mechanics bad puns and bad jokes. Either over haul duke, or just don't bother and leave it where he should have remained.
  • Gearbox does good with their own games. They have a bad habit of finishing crap games other people leave behind. If they made one from scratch, it might work.
  • The terrible thing is that there is a quality, next-gen remake of Duke Nukem 3D out there and Gearbox is sitting on it, refusing to release it because they own the rights, but it was made by a third party, started out as a fan-made product. From what I've heard it is very good. Gearbox should fork over some money to aquire it, release it cheap, say $20, to judge if Duke can still bring it the money, and THEN think about making a new game. For what it's worth, I would get another DN game, but only after reviews said it was good.
  • I hear Yager isn't doing anything now.
  • @7 That's easy to do when you steal money budgeted for those unfinished games to pay for the development of your own IP's.
  • Haha after renting the last one I won't be playing another
  • Can't be any worse than the last one i suppose.
  • Personally, I'm excited about the new one. Yes, DNF was a bomb... (and man, they dicked us on the collector's edition)! But Gearbox bought a 10 y/o turd so they could bring the franchise back to life. They had to go ahead and squeeze that ONE out... but the rest that follow will have Gearbox's own flavor from the very beginning. (That's a horrible analogy)... But the Borderlands series was golden. I think Gearbox can breathe life back into Duke!
  • I must have terrible taste in games because I actually kind of liked Duke nukem forever and aliens: CM...
  • Nope!
  • #6 why make a duke nukem game, without duke nukem? Lol Maybe duke nuked is outdated, but so was wolfenstein...with the right people behind, anything can get a revival..sadly gearbox is not the right people.
  • As far as Duke being a "dated character", I think they should embrace that and run with it. In Duke Nukem Forever, Duke meets a guy who tries to give him gear. The entire time Duke is his full-blown 90's self while the guy he's addressing is trying to ignore the fact that Duke is such a caricature. After Duke declares that "Power Armor is for pussies." the guy shrugs it off with an "Oooo-kay" and offers him weapons. If they kept that up through an entire game having Duke be a 90s anachronism in a modern game, they could have something special... Or it'll turn out like Eat Lead. :P
  • we will see in 14years....
  • @18 I logged in to deliver a thumbs up to you. Z If another does get made, I wont sit here and pre judge it. Who knows, it may turn out good. May. I was stopped in Gamestation when I went to buy this, and the guy behind the counter put it to one side and said "pick something else". From what I heard after, I'm glad I did.
  • I hope Gearbox doesn't go colonial marines on their next Duke game.
  • Let's hope it doesn't take 14 years to make this time.
  • What a waste of money Forever was. If they'd go back to the OLD formula of level design instead of trying to be a CoD clone, it might just work.
  • I want to say thanks to the author for linking to Wired's article on DNF. Definitely the best and most comprehensive story on DNF's development and the history of the 3D Duke Nukem games. Everyone should give it a read if they haven't already.
  • They need to give the game to the team that made blood dragon.
  • I love the game, the humour was awesome, and I would buy this full price. lots of hidden humour. the gameplay was just simple FPS, I never expected to see this game to win awards like Gears of war or Halo. also with the amount of time and changes that has happen over the years, I loved it. m/
  • What everyone seems to forget is the reason Forever sucked isn't the fault of Gearbox. Gearbox took what 3D Realms had, and did what they couldn't do; they made it playable. Was it great? No not at all. But part of the condition to buy the franchise and keep it going was that Duke Nukem Forever had to be released in some form. So if Gearbox and Pitchford are up for making a new game, from the ground up, using their own resources, without the idiots at 3D Realms being involved, then anyone who loves the character should be happy.
  • @26^ The only thing Prickford is up for is outsourcing the development - yet again.
  • I need me some more DUKE!!!
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