Duke Nukem developer 3D Realms may be no more @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on May 06, 2009

News: Forever is so far away.

Gamasutra and Shacknews are reporting that Duke Nukem Forever developer 3D Realms has shut down. Industry sources have told Gamasutra the company will close its doors by the end of the week.

3D Realms was originally known as Apogee Software LTD when it was formed in 1987. They became a leader in PC game development, creating the Duke Nukem franchise and publishing such games as Wolfenstein 3D, Rise of the Triad and Max Payne. But since its anouncement in 1997, the company's main focus has been Duke Nukem Forever, the fourth official game in the Duke Nukem series. After a decade of delays (and with a rumored release date of this year), it looks like time (and money) finally ran out on Duke Nukem Forever and 3D Realms.

In the wake of this news, the company's independently-owned developer of handheld projects, Apogee Software LLC, has issued a statement confirming that work on Duke Nukem Trilogy, a new DS and PSP entry in the series, is continuing as planned:

Deep Silver and Apogee Software are not affected by the situation at 3D Realms. Development on the Duke Nukem Trilogy is continuing as planned.

3D Realms most recently published Prey for the PC and Xbox 360 in 2006. The rights to a sequel were sold to the Radar Group and they have been working with original developer Human Head Studios on Prey 2, which is scheduled for a release this year.

2K Games still holds the publishing rights to Duke Nukem Forever. What they do with it is anyone's guess.

We'll have more soon.