Earlier this month, we shared a story about the 2001 version of Duke Nukem Forever. As we reported, Frederik Schreiber, VP at 3DRealms, claimed that this unreleased version was almost 90% complete and feature a different tone and atmosphere than the game we received in 2011. And during the latest episode of the Nerdvana Live Show, Randy Pitchford gave an update on Duke Nukem Forever 2001.
As Randy Pitchford said, Take-Two has all the IP rights for Duke Nukem Forever. And while Gearbox was able to acquire a license that allows it now to release Duke Nukem Forever (think of it as a sub-license), it does not have any license that will allow it to release legacy stuff for free.
Pitchford claimed that Gearbox is working on that (acquiring that license), though he claimed that Gearbox will most likely include the 2001 build in a new package for Duke Nukem Forever (meaning that it will not be available for free to all previous owners of the game).
As Randy Pitchford put it:
“I think the way to do it is to have a new package with things like Forever and all the old Megaton stuff and maybe the 20th anniversary… basically everything we can get together and then have the old DNF stuff as sort of this free giveaway, this free bonus that you can have access to. That’s right now the easiest legal path to do this.”
Pitchford also commented on the content of the Duke Nukem Forever 2001 build, claiming that people will be disappointed with what they see there.
“I was the same with anybody else when I saw the trailers in 1999 and the trailers in 2001 and I thought “That looks awesome. I want that.” The actual people that worked on this stuff they did some great work but they never… there was no game. Right? So if you have in your mind that there’s a game that you can play, you will be disappointed. What you’ll have are little vignettes/snippets, incomplete pieces of stuff.”
Pitchford concluded that the 90% claim was inaccurate (he joked that maybe 9% was actually complete), that there is no game in the 2001 build and that gamers should temper their expectations if this build ever sees the light of day.
But there you have it, we may see and play the 2001 build of Duke Nukem Forever in a future package of Duke Nukem.
John is the founder and Editor in Chief at DSOGaming. He is a PC gaming fan and highly supports the modding and indie communities. Before creating DSOGaming, John worked on numerous gaming websites. While he is a die-hard PC gamer, his gaming roots can be found on consoles. John loved – and still does – the 16-bit consoles, and considers SNES to be one of the best consoles. Still, the PC platform won him over consoles. That was mainly due to 3DFX and its iconic dedicated 3D accelerator graphics card, Voodoo 2. John has also written a higher degree thesis on the “The Evolution of PC graphics cards.”
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This Politically Correct world needs more Duke Nukem to shake things up a little.
Given the current state of Gearbox, if they had to make a new Duke Nukem game then it would feature Duke fighting for feminism.
The IP should remain dead as long as it belongs to Gearbox.
They already did some of that with the Duke3D expansion for the 20th anniversary edition:
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/438a7ffa79e7a68c36274de7c3011df74b279a8d4e36548ab805efecde1b36d4.jpg
Heh, imagine if DNF had been released in 2017-2018 with that intro showing the twins polishing Duke’s knob.
Huge sh!tstorm.
If Randy says people will be disappointed by it, then it’s 100% sure people will love it.
true. hes just mad its better than his version of DNF
“His version of DNF” was also 90% completed by 3dRealms. Gearbox merely put the pieces together. Aliens: Colonial Marines was all theirs.
When I interviewed one of the then developers (Charlie Wiederhold), he told me that there was no game and it was basically a collection of ideas in various stages of development. As much as I’d love to see that game, people should really expect the worse case scenario here.
This is what “Fernando The Flicker” wrote you before, so despite what you are saying game existed because Charlie detailed many playable scenes from the trailer.
“Charlie Wiederhold (former 3D Realms developer) even did a break down of the 2001 trailer shortly after the game was released in 2011 detailing the scenes of the trailer that were scripted, faked, and playable at that point in time.
https://forums.duke4.net/topic/4164-dnf-2001-breakdown/
Now take that and realize Frederik Schreiber is talking about a build from 2002 over a year after the 2001 trailer was released…it makes sense that most of it would be playable and nearing completion at that point in time.”
Did he depart in 2001 tho? Anyway, skepticism is highly advised here. If not for the whole idea of scrapping a game in advanced beta just because GB played some DOOM 3, then because its DNF and 3D Realms we’re talking here.
Oh Randy <3. The golden lying boy of gaming. Love that sob.
https://youtu.be/ADqIh9_zAp4
Funny stuff.
Wasn’t that funny when he stole SEGA money and used it to develop Borderlands 2 tho. But that’s Randy for ya 😀
Probably stole it and buy a nice house and a nice car. It’s Randy after all.
Ironic how the advert on the foot of this article is for wallets. 😀 Gearbox aren’t really the kind of people to give things away. I’d take Fred’s word over Randy’s any day of the week. Let’s see what miracles can be performed.
Randy just shut up and take my money, I want that 2001 build no matter what :).
“I think the way to do it is to have a new package with things like Forever and all the old Megaton stuff and maybe the 20th anniversary”
Oh Randy never change. Duke nukem super mega 23th anniversary golden complete edition super wow, featuring duke 2001 levels. Only 59.99$
hey man have you ever seen his wife? dude needs all the money for food he can get.
Made me curious so I went and looked…..she’s really let herself go.
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/a989c8452ef170d13e1b700e5894a12b32f31fe751e5bfa7b40546a5b339fd33.png
MAN THE HARPOONS!!!
wow no wonder he and she are feminists.
Gearbox is dead to me.
What was their last good game? Half Life Opposing Forces?
Well Borderlands 1 was good IMO…that was the last for me…before that maybe it was HL:OF
Brothers is Arms were solid games actually. On PC that is.
Wait so about 90% procent is a lie
Randy is trying to save face and hope people forget about this because I bet the 2001 build would show how much of an embarrassing mess the 2011 build was.