Tuesday, May 19

Duke Nukem lawsuit ends with settlement, possible license transfer

A year-long lawsuit between the major players in the Duke Nukem game franchise appeared to have reached its conclusion last week, as evidenced by a court document leak pointing to a settlement.

Duke Nukem Forever publisher Gearbox Software filed an initial lawsuit in February 2014 against 3D Realms, the DN series' original handlers, and parent company Interceptor Entertainment. The suit alleged that Interceptor had breached the Duke Nukem IP handover contract—the one created when Duke Nukem Forever finally inched its way toward its disastrous launch—when Interceptor later announced a game called Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction. That contract, conveniently enough, leaked last week on document site Scribd.

Gearbox's assertions in the lawsuit also leaked last week, and they alleged that 3D Realms heads George Broussard and Scott Miller "directly confirmed" that they'd infringed on the terms of the DNF handover, including "Gearbox's rights to the Duke IP. Though none of 3D Realms' direct statements leaked, the terms of the original contract indicated that the original Duke IP owners still had the rights to work on re-releases of prior games, along with a tentatively titled Duke Nukem: Survivor game.

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