Après deux semaines de chaos, 3D Realms s’est enfin décidé à communiquer sur Duke Nukem Forever. Et surprise : le studio n’a pas fermé. En revanche, l’ensemble de l’équipe de développement de Duke Nuke Forever a été licenciée le 6 mai, et le jeu lui-même est «suspendu». De fait, il ne reste plus que les patrons chez 3D Realms. Tout cela est dû à un manque d’argent.
Dans son communiqué, 3D Realms explique que Duke Nukem Forever a coûté plus de 20 millions de dollars à produire, et qu’il n’a été financé par des éditeurs qu’à hauteur de 2,9 millions de dollars : 400 000 dollars reçus de GT Interactive pour l’achat des droits d’édition en 1998, et 2,5 millions de dollars reçus de Take Two en 2008 pour un autre projet de 3D Realms. Le développeur qu’il affirme n’a pas touché un centime lors de la revente des droits d’édition en 2000, quand Take Two a payé 12 millions de dollars à Infogrames (qui avait alors racheté GT Interactive).
3D Realms raconte ensuite que le studio essayait depuis la fin 2008 de négocier un deal de financement avec Take Two, et que les conditions de l’accord ont été changées par l’éditeur à la dernière minute. Sachant 3D Realms en difficultés, Take Two a proposé de racheter la licence Duke Nukem plus le jeu, et d’embaucher la devteam de DNF, pour un montant non précisé. Une offre refusée par 3D Realms, car elle ne contenait pas assez de garanties. Les négociations ont pris fin le 4 mai et l’équipe a été licenciée le 6 mai. Selon 3D Realms, le développement avançait bien depuis plusieurs mois et les deadlines étaient enfin respectées.
Le développeur estime que la plainte de Take Two contre 3D Realms n’est pas valide, et n’a aucune chance de passer. 3D Realms veut désormais continuer à produire des jeux, notamment basés sur la licence Duke Nukem. Evidemment, sans argent, ça va être plus difficile…
Lire le communiqué officiel : [–SUITE–]
3D Realms Release Pertaining to Recent Events Surrounding Duke Nukem Forever
Dallas, TX (May 18, 2009) – In light of recent press articles and statements by Take-Two (to the media and in a lawsuit), we want to set the record straight on some issues.
Despite rumors and statements to the contrary, 3D Realms (3DR) has not closed and is not closing. 3DR retains ownership of the Duke Nukem franchise. Due to lack of funding, however, we are saddened to confirm that we let the Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) development team go on May 6th, while we regroup as a company. While 3DR is a much smaller studio now, we will continue to operate as a company and continue to license and co-create games based upon the Duke Nukem franchise.
As some of you may know, Take-Two filed a lawsuit last week containing various accusations and claims against 3DR and the uncompleted DNF game. 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.
Take-Two retains publishing rights for the DNF game, although 3DR retains certain rights to sell the game directly to the public. Late last year, 3DR began negotiations with Take-Two to provide funding to complete the DNF game. In the meantime, 3DR was hitting mutually-agreed milestones, despite not having a new agreement finalized. Take-Two was well aware that 3DR needed the funding to continue the DNF game development. Suddenly, after months of negotiations, Take-Two materially changed the parameters of the proposed funding agreement. 3DR informed Take-Two that it could not financially afford the changes Take-Two was suggesting and would be forced to release the team if an agreement was not reached. Take-Two made a last minute proposal to acquire the Duke Nukem franchise and the 3DR development team. Take-Two’s proposal was unacceptable to 3DR for many reasons, including no upfront money, no guarantee minimum payment, and no guarantee to complete the DNF game. From 3DR’s perspective, we viewed Take-Two as trying to acquire the Duke Nukem franchise in a « fire sale. » Those negotiations fell through on May 4th, a deal never materialized, and the DNF team was sadly released a few days later.
Less than a week after the DNF team was released, Take-Two filed its lawsuit in New York, seeking immediate temporary injunctive relief. The court denied Take-Two’s request for a temporary restraining order. While we cannot comment on the details of the ongoing lawsuit, we believe Take-Two’s lawsuit is without merit and merely a bully tactic to obtain ownership of the Duke Nukem franchise. We will vigorously defend ourselves against this publisher.
