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They fired the development team, but they kept the brand alive.
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Gearbox suing 3D Realms, Interceptor for unauthorized Duke Nukem use
- Thread starter Shard
- Start date
They fired the development team, but they kept the brand alive.
MrCunningham
Member
3D realms is nothing more than a licensing holder at this point. Though to be honest, I'm not really sure what licenses they have left. They used to have Prey before it was transferred over to Scott Millers "Radar Group", then the rights was transferred over to Zenimax. I'm just as confused about the Duke Nukem rights, though I would assume that anything that was published under the 3D Realms brand they retained the rights too. Also 3D Realms still owns the rights to some Apogee games, though back then, most of the games that were published (and not developed) by Apogee were retained ownership by the original creators. Commander Keen for example is owned by id Software (now Zenimax).
They had a lot of Duke games in development behind the scenes, but so many of them never materialized. Duke Nuke: Endangered Species for one, Duke Nukem D-Day was another, and then there was the mysterious "Duke Nukem: Begins" that has been talked about from time to time. . For all we know they had the name for "Mass Destruction" in some early design document that never made it past initial planning stages, and just marked that as "in development".
I hadn't noticed.
jim-jam bongs
Member
Gearbox are terrible, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. If I pay for exclusive use of a toilet then walk in and find shit smeared all over the walls which definitely isn't mine, I'd feel pretty ripped off.
Copywrite still protects the little guy, even when protecting the big guys.
ThreePiMatt
Member
So long as George Broussard's lungs still draw breath, 3D Realms will continue to exist.
Nostremitus
Member
Completely right to sue.
If I sold you my car, you wouldn't want me randomly showing up to take it for a spin. That's called theft.
If I sold you my car, you wouldn't want me randomly showing up to take it for a spin. That's called theft.
Danny Dudekisser
I paid good money for this Dynex!
I was ready to come in here and say something along the lines of "Randy Pitchford is an idiot, and he's a lawyer, so why is he doing something so stupid?" But... he's right.
Dammit.
Apart from the fact that this is ridiculous (copyrights really do exist for a valid reason, even if they're sometimes subject to abuse these days), the issue here is trademarks. Copyright would refer to ideas, like the Duke Nukem character, level designs, artwork, etc. Trademark involves the Duke Nukem brand name.
Dammit.
Apart from the fact that this is ridiculous (copyrights really do exist for a valid reason, even if they're sometimes subject to abuse these days), the issue here is trademarks. Copyright would refer to ideas, like the Duke Nukem character, level designs, artwork, etc. Trademark involves the Duke Nukem brand name.
Forsaken82
Member
I think you need to go back to school to get an understanding of how situations like this work in the real world.
One way or another this is the world we live in.
Gearbox ultimately delivered the product Sega paid for. Without knowing the details of the contract, we have no idea if it was breached or not.
Assuming the contract specified how the money had to be used in the first place. Sega of America was run by monkeys at the time and seems to have been blindly paying money for delivered milestones. I really wouldn't put it past them to have written up language that wasn't ironclad. Maybe they weren't that stupid and it's just taking a while to gather evidence, or Gearbox actually did burn it all on the project and this whole debacle is an even more colossal management disaster than we think. Dunno.
Borderlands 1 sold pretty well in any case, so I've never been clear on where the assumption that Gearbox wasn't self-funding their own projects after that came from.
It is probably too late for that in the sense of not getting sued.
2015 update: The case was settled in mediation.
Bonus: Some in-game images of Mass Destruction before it became Bombshell.
Reveal trailer:
Duke IP buy-back:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/26452006...oftware-Ltd-and-Interceptor-Entertainment-ApS
Bonus: Some in-game images of Mass Destruction before it became Bombshell.
Reveal trailer:
Duke IP buy-back:
https://www.scribd.com/doc/26452006...oftware-Ltd-and-Interceptor-Entertainment-ApS
Given Gearbox initiated the lawsuit and it was settled, I'd assume it still owns the IP (for now), plus Gearbox is still listed as the current owner on the USPTO site.
I'm glad it's resolved, whatever that ends up meaning. The worst thing for IP is getting stuck in legal limbo.
As for Duke... well, it's no worse than half a dozen other iterations of the character I could name. Actually kinda glad we're getting a game with this lady instead:
Duke needs a long rest.
As for Duke... well, it's no worse than half a dozen other iterations of the character I could name. Actually kinda glad we're getting a game with this lady instead:
Duke needs a long rest.
professor denim
Member
Duke needs the Machinegames treatment.
Given what I read here it appears the 3D Realms is buying it back via what amounts to a convoluted installment plan.
Nikodemos
Member
So, by extension, Interceptor would eventually own it, right?
Yes.
You are correct.
BlackRainbowFT
Member
That's an electrocardiogram reading.
The Wheel of Fortune
Member
Holy shit this thread is sad. A lot of grey names in the first page.
I'm actually glad this happened, Bombshell looked nice in the gameplay trailer we got back in March.
I'm actually glad this happened, Bombshell looked nice in the gameplay trailer we got back in March.
You're right, but it's part of one image used as an exhibit from the court case.
Ah, i see.
That would be awesome =)
Sahdow warrior is basically the best Duke game we will ever get.
TheDarkBites
Banned
Pitchford is a lying dick and 3D Realms try to get away with things. There is no winner here.
Syph Medwes
Member
Thanks for the update. Obviously there were the financial ramifications but hopefully the lawsuit was initiated because they (gearbox) still intend to do something with the IP
Piston Hyundai
Member
Saddest part is that it links to Joystiq.
BennyBlanco
aka IMurRIVAL69
I would play the shit out of that.
I would love it if that happened, but I can't see 2K publishing another Duke game. Even though they have an amazing relationship with Gearbox, 2K president Christoph Hartman said publishing DNF was one of his few regrets.
If they won't publish a Duke game, who would?
Maybe if Interceptor's parent company SDN Invest is willing to shell out millions and millions they could acquire the rights?
Couldn't Devolver also pitch in since they've been working pretty closely with Interceptor/SDN lately? I remember Fork Parker saying (regretfully) that they couldn't buy the Blood IP because it was too expensive, but they might consider Duke more worth the investment.
I really think a publisher like Devolver would be the best home for Duke. If they managed to acquire the series I would be a happy chappy.
Flying Toaster
Member
It would be cool, but seriously does anyone think Gearbox is going to do the right thing.
Gearbox generally speaking has been all over the place especially on IP's that are not Borderlands.
But nobody loves Duke more than Randy Pitchford.
KatamariOnTheRocks
Member
I really hope we eventually get a true return to form with Duke, something closer to a Duke 3d - 2. Hopefully Interceptor get to continue with Duke Reloaded.
I also wanna say I'd be totally down for Devolver Digital to get the rights or to see a Duke game by the Shadow Warrior people.
I also wanna say I'd be totally down for Devolver Digital to get the rights or to see a Duke game by the Shadow Warrior people.
Right next to his love of Aliens
edit: Depending on where the IP is going, I would just like more Duke games please. A sequel to DNF preferably or just a satirical 'macho' shooter
Well, the terms of the buyback are actually laid out in the update.3D Realms is buying back the IP at price they sold it at plus a amount going to Take 2 plus expenses incurred by Gearbox that can't be recouped any other way plus a royalty payment related to 3 AAA Duke games. Also that last paragraph has everything to do with certain situations relating to the royalty payments. Looks like it is going to cost tens of millions of dollars over a protracted length of time basically.
I don't think you would want that. Was Rise of the Triad an amazing shooter? That game had a budget and a full time team. Reloaded had none of that and was being developed by a less experienced team.
It's worth pointing out that Gearbox was apparently really happy with DNF, at least according to a Triptych team member:
^^This. The best thing that could happen would be for Bethedsa to buy the IP and give it to Machinegames. Would that ever be possible? I'd love to see what they could do. Nothing will come of letting 3D Reams get it back, and I don't have confidence in Gearbox either.
KatamariOnTheRocks
Member
That's very strange that more than a single person play tested that and didn't pass on all the feedback about the issues with the game.
Perhaps they did and the higher ups didn't listen. I'm a big fan of DNF because I'm a big fan of Duke but there was certainly alot of room for improvement and polish even if only in the gunplay department.
But about interceptor I think Rise Of The Triad was a decent game, but I agree that I'd prefer Duke reloaded to be held to a higher standard, especially knowing all the backlash they'd get based on the negative image surrounding the IP after DNF.
One of my personal issues with ROTT was the way they handled movement but that has more to do with the series it's based on.
If I had to decide who would ultimately develop the next Duke game I think I would prefer Flying Wild Hog. Those people are incredibly talented when it comes to making good FPS games.
I'd love to live in a world with both a new Duke game as well as a competent remake of Duke 3d.
Battlesmurf
Member
This is what needs more attention.
They have the old builds.
They've played the build from the 2002 trailer.
I would put a ton of money into a product that came with that- a way to "cross that part of my childhood off my to-do list".
There's a lot of potential left in Duke. It just needs the right people to take what is there and run with it!
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