I stand absolutely corrected. After alleging over a month ago that 3D Realms didn’t think out their ownership status for Duke Nukem, they have lashed back at Gearbox and its lawsuit to stop the release of Duke Nukem Survivor. 3D Realms points out that Gearbox didn’t actually obtain the rights to the famously foulmouthed gun-toter.
3D Realms shared documents with Rock Paper Shotgun indicating that Gearbox is not allowed to dispute or stop development of Duke Nukem Survivor in any way. Gearbox also cannot intervene in their use of the Duke Nukem trademark in their marketing, promotion, etc. 3D Realms has apparently attempted to keep Gearbox up to date on the state of the game, but Gearbox did not respond in any way.
Now here’s the clincher. 3D Realms insists that they still own Duke Nukem 100 %. This claim may be up for debate, since 3D Realms is countering Gearbox’s claims of entering a good faith agreement with them in relation to ownership of the Duke.
So, where are we at now? Not really sure. 3D Realms has documents to support their claim that Gearbox can’t block making Duke Nukem Survivor, but as to who owns him now? It’s 3D Realms’ word vs. Gearbox’s.
You can expect 3D Realms and Gearbox to take this court, but in the meantime, it’s clear 3D Realms isn’t going to stop making their game to keep their former partner happy. It’s a shame the next Duke Nukem game is caught in the crossfire, to be delayed another 10 years? We hope not. We will keep you up to date on the latest developments.
Image is from Duke Nukem Forever.
