George Broussard of 3D Realms issued a statement to clear up some misunderstandings in light of all the Duke Nukem Forever troubles.
First, 3D Realms isn’t dead! They’re still alive, but they did have to let go the Duke Nukem Forever development team on May 6 due to lack of funding. 3D Realms still owns the rights to the Duke Nukem franchise and Take-Two retains publishing rights for Duke Nukem Forever.
George then goes on to talk about Take-Two’s lawsuit against them:
Take-Two never paid 3DR advances or any signing bonus or any other funds related to DNF, up until July 2008, at which time they paid $2.5m in connection with another agreement for an unannounced game. This is the sum total Take-Two has paid 3DR in connection with DNF. Take-Two claims that they paid $12m to GT Interactive/Infogrames to acquire the publishing rights for the DNF game. To be clear, 3DR was not a party to that transaction and did not receive any money from it. When the DNF game was originally signed with GT Interactive in 1998, GT paid 3DR a $400,000 signing bonus. Up until July 2008, this was the only publisher money we received for the DNF game. Meanwhile, 3DR put over $20m into the production of DNF.
It’s amazing how George Broussard is so candid about the whole failed negotiation dealings amidst the lawsuit. Take-Two seemingly tried to bully 3D Realms into taking a really horrible deal. It’s definitely worth your time to read the entire statement over on GameSlice.
