Is it really over this time?

[Pulsar_t]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8037688.stm

DNF is making headlines one more time.. But perhaps this is the whimper it's going out with?

[JJJ]

I wish I could say its over but its unlikely. The fact is that Take Two has funded this fiasco to the tune of tens of millions. Their shareholders will demand some type of return on their investment.

So the question is, whats next? I think its very likely that Take Two will farm out final development to another studio - and give them a extremely short release window. Basically, get the damn thing out the door - buggy or not.

But I suppose the other option is just to write down the whole thing as a loss and take the tax break. With the economy as bad as it is, that's also a possibility.

What really blows my mind is that 3D Realms survived this long. They had virtually no revenue from new games for 12 years! I understand they were mostly privately funded, and for the last few years Take Two footed the bill. But seriously, to go that long in this industry without revenue. WOW.

I am really eager to read the sure-to-be-written development tell-all book by one of the producer's... Can you imagine how interesting that will be? It will make Daikatana look like a perfectly managed project.

edit: I just remembered, 3d Realms did release Prey a few years ago. But who knows, they could have lost money on this game... It didn't do so well.

[andymol21]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8037688.stm

DNF is making headlines one more time.. But perhaps this is the whimper it's going out with?

I'm sure it's been said before, but DNF... Did not finish...

They had the writing on the wall from the start.

[Boaradoor]

I can't believe it really happened... I knew it was going to happen, but not so soon!

[marurun]

I think they got stuck in a perfection cycle. You work so hard and long to make everything JUST RIGHT and then the technology has advanced and you have to move all your work to better technology. But then when you move you find stuff you need to fix and you change things and you start perfecting all over again. DNF doesn't need to be perfect. It just needs to be good enough to get out the door. Clearly the franchise didn't save 3D Realms. Maybe it even killed it. So perhaps it'll be a good thing to farm it out.

[MrPopo]

What really blows my mind is that 3D Realms survived this long. They had virtually no revenue from new games for 12 years! I understand they were mostly privately funded, and for the last few years Take Two footed the bill. But seriously, to go that long in this industry without revenue. WOW.

Aside from the aformentioned Prey (which may have been what did them in) they were the Producer on both Max Payne games, which both did quite well.

[Pulsar_t]

I think they got stuck in a perfection cycle. You work so hard and long to make everything JUST RIGHT and then the technology has advanced and you have to move all your work to better technology. But then when you move you find stuff you need to fix and you change things and you start perfecting all over again. DNF doesn't need to be perfect. It just needs to be good enough to get out the door. Clearly the franchise didn't save 3D Realms. Maybe it even killed it. So perhaps it'll be a good thing to farm it out.

Yours is a unique opinion, sir. Most people consider DNF to be the longest-running joke in the industry.

[Mod_Man_Extreme]

Wow I thought that 3D Realms went bakrupt in like 01' and was simply a namesake company like what Infogrames did with Atari. To see that they lasted this long mostly on Take Two's handouts kind of makes me lose what little respect I had for them.

[Niode]

I too follow Marurun's opinion and had a conversion quite similar with a friend of mine not so long ago, we came to the exact same conclusion. It was the only one that actually made some sort of sense.

I got my hopes up when that teaser trailer came out not so long ago.

I think I would have bought it regardless of how crap it was. Just for the novelty value of it.

[JJJ]

I'm a huge Duke fan. Duke 3D is one of the best multiplayer games ever. So it was like a cruel joke to be teased all these years...

I agree with marurun: It didn't have to be perfect. Most games aren't! I would have still played the damn thing to death if it was just a fun, full-3d sequel to the original Duke.

Its actually hilarious, now that I think about it. Duke 3D was one of the least serious games ever made - they threw in all sorts of wild stuff that didn't necessarily fit but were just fun. Not only don't most fans require perfection, we don't really want it either! Like what were 3D Realms working on in re: to the single-player for 12 years?? This isn't Shakespeare. Duke is just about blowing shit up!

They totally started to take themselves and their project too seriously it seems. This wasn't the next Zelda, Metroid or anything else with huge expectations. It was just a fun shooter, but they had to create their own huge expectations... Ouch.