Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) Game's Development Halted !

3D Realms (3DR) has been working on Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) for, well, forever — over a decade and then some. May 6th saw a halt to their development activities though, as they had to lay off the entire development team. This meant no DNF, and thus upset the would-be game’s publisher — Take-Two. So much so that the publisher slapped a lawsuit on 3DR.

The facts here are that Take-Two never paid 3DR any money in relation to DNF — no advance, nor signing bonus. Take-Two has actually paid 3DR US $2.5 million for another game that is still under wraps. So why exactly is Take-Two making so much fuss over 3DR and Duke Nukem then? Well the reason is that they paid GT Interactive US $12 million to obtain the rights to publish DNF, but now since the development has stopped, they have been left with no other option. Of course Take-Two did try to buy the game and the development team from 3DR, but the terms of this contract were unacceptable to the developers.

The fans, meanwhile, are in a tizzy — some gamers are happy that the game won’t completely die, but others feel that it might take another decade to launch! Some people think 3DR should just give up the development rights to Take-Two, but others want the original developers to keep that Duke Nukem magic alive.

For all you know, this drama might unfold into a new game. But right now, who do you think is really at loss here? We, the gamers who want to get our hands on Duke Nukem Forever, of course.