Gearbox now owns all rights to Duke Nukem

[Mikko_P]

Originally Posted by Robman

..Sw?

You mean "Shadow Warrior"?

[Robman]

Yeah Shadow Warrior, I've been a big fan of it since it's release and have put more hours towards it than it took to make it, would be nice to be tossed a cookie in the form of some alpha/beta goodies. That's almost 19 years of actively promoting apogee/3dr. The hardcore fans of these games are the ones who have kept them alive over the years, should be worth atleast alittle respect.

We've heard over and over about the Duke3d stuff and the unanimous answer has been that GBX owns the rights and it's out of 3dr's hands.
- Case Closed.

Now, let's focus on the games they CAN release the development works for.
They're 20-25 year old games.. shouldn't be a big deal.

Who's hands are they in? What's the hold up? Do all the games have to be released all at once or can they be released as they've been gone through and "approved?" Please 3dr, shine some light on this topic.

Old-school apogee/3dr fans were anticipating these releases far more than ANYTHING else. I'd like to think it wasn't just a PR stunt.

The optimal way this should have been handled for the company and fans would have been this order:
Acquire 3dr.
Release anthology.
Release Alpha/Betas
At this point there's a positive buzz about the new 3dr.
Now announce/release bombshell and it's build companion.
= profit.

[Corvin]

Wow , well said.

Like your saying, where is the SW alpha/betas? I swore the SW stuff was announced to be released.

Why haven't they been released?

The Duke3D stuff is apparently gonna only come out when and if TerminX talks to GearBox and see what they have to say. I haven't read anything further about it...

[Stevey Boy]

Originally Posted by Robman

Yeah Shadow Warrior, I've been a big fan of it since it's release and have put more hours towards it than it took to make it, would be nice to be tossed a cookie in the form of some alpha/beta goodies. That's almost 19 years of actively promoting apogee/3dr. The hardcore fans of these games are the ones who have kept them alive over the years, should be worth atleast alittle respect.

We've heard over and over about the Duke3d stuff and the unanimous answer has been that GBX owns the rights and it's out of 3dr's hands.
- Case Closed.

Now, let's focus on the games they CAN release the development works for.
They're 20-25 year old games.. shouldn't be a big deal.

Who's hands are they in? What's the hold up? Do all the games have to be released all at once or can they be released as they've been gone through and "approved?" Please 3dr, shine some light on this topic.

Old-school apogee/3dr fans were anticipating these releases far more than ANYTHING else. I'd like to think it wasn't just a PR stunt.

The optimal way this should have been handled for the company and fans would have been this order:
Acquire 3dr.
Release anthology.
Release Alpha/Betas
At this point there's a positive buzz about the new 3dr.
Now announce/release bombshell and it's build companion.
= profit.

Devolver Digital own the rights to Shadow Warrior IIRC.
There's a sequel coming out you know, how can you not be aware of this if you've been actively promoting 3DR "for 19 years" lol
3DR isn't what it once was, anyone can see that.

Old-school apogee/3dr fans were anticipating these releases far more than ANYTHING else.

lolwut.

[Corvin]

Robman knows there is a non-BUILD Engine SW and sequel coming. He's talking about the Original SW based on the BUILD Engine.

Yup, the Alpha and Betas have been long desired for SW and Duke3D and I'm sure the other games as well.

[Stevey Boy]

But if Devolver own the rights, why ask about it on here?

[Corvin]

True.
But It wasn't clear to me that they own the rights to the alpha/betas of the original SW. From everything thing I've read, these where suppose to come from 3DR.

I wouldn't even know where to properly ask.

[Robman]

Originally Posted by Stevey Boy

Devolver Digital own the rights to Shadow Warrior IIRC.
There's a sequel coming out you know, how can you not be aware of this if you've been actively promoting 3DR "for 19 years" lol
3DR isn't what it once was, anyone can see that.

Irrelevant. Like yourself, I'm 32. I played the old games with dos, 3.1/95 etc... I played on TEN, iC, mplayer, Heat, Wireplay, Kali, modem. I've maintained a Sw website for 17 years, make maps. I know for a fact I speak on behalf of people who don't care enough to post here.

Originally Posted by Stevey Boy

lolwut.

Duke4 thread about the apha/betas has 347 000 views and 1624 posts. It's a popular topic.
That thread is also titled: "Duke3d & SW Early alpha/betas."
By contrast the announcement thread about 3dr's return and Anthology has 17 000 views and 200 posts.
Both threads started by 3dr CEO.
Duke4 is a popular website for this fanbase, it acts as a bellwether for such topics.

Originally Posted by Stevey Boy

But if Devolver own the rights, why ask about it on here?

Because 3dr would have been the ones to give those rights away and they should know the details, right? Also, the 3dr CEO announced the release of the alpha/betas on duke4 over a year ago. Going by your logic, if GBX owns Duke, why ask about IT here?

If 3dr would get active in their own forums, could be of some help to curb the perturbed.

[Damien_Azreal]

The details of Devolver Digital's ownership of the Shadow Warrior IP have not been made clear to the public.
I don't know how the deal was broken down, and it is unclear if DD only owns the SW IP from the reboot forward, or if it includes the entire series.

In the former, 3DRealms would still retain the original 1997 SW and, in turn, it's alphas and betas.
If the later, DD would be in control of any and all SW related material.
As this point, asking for alphas or betas for Shadow Warrior is almost pointless. You would need clarification on who owns what before asking for anything specific from either publisher.

Old-school apogee/3dr fans were anticipating these releases far more than ANYTHING else.

You're generalizing. Assuming all Apogee/3DR fans were feeling the same way about this simply because a group of them are.
Remember, not all Apogee/3DR fans use Duke4.net. And, even so, I'm a HUGE Shadow Warrior fan. But, my interests in the betas and alphas is... basically zero.
I love the final game, before that... while interesting to see it's development cycle and how it changed, means very little to me personally.

My favorite game out of the big Build Trilogy is BLOOD. I have an early Alpha build. And, this is my FAVORITE build game, the one I've played more then anything.
I've messed around with the alpha... maybe twice. My love, is for the final release.

Just remember, that while there are fans excited for early/preview builds and unreleased material. There are also fans that have little to no interest in such things as the final released game is what they love, and were their interests lie.

Going by your logic, if GBX owns Duke, why ask about IT here?

Because until the lawsuit was settled recently, past Duke titles were handled by 3DR. So, asking about those here was the proper thing to do.
Now, that the lawsuit is settled and Duke is fully owned by GBX, such discussions have no real place here as there's little/nothing 3DR can do.
Without GBX's approval.

[Robman]

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

The details of Devolver Digital's ownership of the Shadow Warrior IP have not been made clear to the public.
I don't know how the deal was broken down, and it is unclear if DD only owns the SW IP from the reboot forward, or if it includes the entire series.

In the former, 3DRealms would still retain the original 1997 SW and, in turn, it's alphas and betas.
If the later, DD would be in control of any and all SW related material.
As this point, asking for alphas or betas for Shadow Warrior is almost pointless. You would need clarification on who owns what before asking for anything specific from either publisher.

That's why I'm asking. I've been in touch with 3dr before, I haven't spoken to DD before and at this point don't really have plans to do so. All I'm asking for is some answers from the 3dr staff. If you don't work for 3dr, or don't know the answers to my questions than there's a high probability that there's no need to respond. I don't mean to come across as crass, but at the same time my patience is running thin with this. The original announcement was in April of 2014 and we've literally heard SFA about SW and yes even the other games. Sw however being more important than say, Wacky Wheels or something.

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

You're generalizing. Assuming all Apogee/3DR fans were feeling the same way about this simply because a group of them are.
Remember, not all Apogee/3DR fans use Duke4.net. And, even so, I'm a HUGE Shadow Warrior fan. But, my interests in the betas and alphas is... basically zero.
I love the final game, before that... while interesting to see it's development cycle and how it changed, means very little to me personally.

Of course I'm generalizing, I'm not going to try and contact every apogee/3dr fan personally. I will however pay attention when the views for a certain topic far exceed anything else.

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

My favorite game out of the big Build Trilogy is BLOOD. I have an early Alpha build. And, this is my FAVORITE build game, the one I've played more then anything.
I've messed around with the alpha... maybe twice. My love, is for the final release.

Just remember, that while there are fans excited for early/preview builds and unreleased material. There are also fans that have little to no interest in such things as the final released game is what they love, and were their interests lie.

We all know the Blood IP is locked up tight. Blood's a cool game but it's too occult for me personally and it's floaty pseudo physics make multiplayer odd. Sw is accurate, agile and the weapons make sense especially in a multiplayer setting.

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

Because until the lawsuit was settled recently, past Duke titles were handled by 3DR. So, asking about those here was the proper thing to do.
Now, that the lawsuit is settled and Duke is fully owned by GBX, such discussions have no real place here as there's little/nothing 3DR can do.
Without GBX's approval.

I was being sarcastic
This thread was made after the ruling btw.

Why is it so hard for 3dr to get active in their own forum? It's pretty easy.. a few clicks of a mouse and a few tickles of the keyboard to enlighten their audience.

[Damien_Azreal]

It's not that easy.
They can't simply post and be done, everything they post has to be carefully worded. Specially when it includes deals, contracts and/or settlements with other studios.

Posting the wrong thing could not only release information early, but could also possibly cause tension or problems with a studio they may hope to partner with down the road. 3DR may have something they want to say on the matter, but it could be something they have to wait before they can do so.


And, it's an open forum. I responded simply because I wanted to contribute to the discussion. Me working for or not working for 3DR has no implication in the matter.


Also, I referenced Blood not for the IP (which I'm well aware of, I also know who has the source code... and the legal reasons it cannot be released) but to use it as an example of how love for the game does not equal love or interest for pre-release builds.

[Robman]

Originally Posted by Damien_Azreal

It's not that easy.
They can't simply post and be done, everything they post has to be carefully worded. Specially when it includes deals, contracts and/or settlements with other studios.

Posting the wrong thing could not only release information early, but could also possibly cause tension or problems with a studio they may hope to partner with down the road. 3DR may have something they want to say on the matter, but it could be something they have to wait before they can do so.

When a deal such as this happens, both parties involved understand the clauses in said contracts. I have simply pursued the answers to said clauses as they pertain to aforementioned promises. It's not even that this is new news, it's closer to 2 years old now. Time has been given, this is where the patience part comes in.

[Damien_Azreal]

Time has little to do with it in reality.
Just because a deal was struck, and they know what the details are... doesn't mean they are at liberty to discuss them.

It may be frustrating, but they simply can not post whatever they want on the forums.

And, you are also overlooking how frustrating it can be fore the people at 3DR. They have the answers, they know the details. And there are times they would love to share those answers.
But legally, a lot of the time, they can't.

You may be interested because you are a fan, and I do understand that side of things. But, there are countless loops they have to jump through to tell fans the tiniest detail.

It's why developers hire Community Managers and don't normally talk directly with the community. The Community Manager is informed of what they can discuss, the details they are allowed to talk about...
And, as TX has said, there are NDA's that were signed and things they simply can not discuss.

[Robman]

I agree but it sounds like we're talking about Duke again. DD has had the SW IP since atleast 2013, Fred announced the beta stuff in april of 2014. As far as I know, nothing has changed for Sw since.

This leads me to believe it's simply neglect or disinterest on their behalf.

[Corvin]

eh, I'd just take a guess that TerminX and Hendricks haven't gotten entirely through the SW archives. I'd suspect Hendricks looked more into the SW archives than TerminX...

But they have there paid projects that my guess has taken priority over the volunteer work which includes managing the Alpha/Betas, thus why we didn't get the Duke3D stuff; it took them too long to get them out, before GearBox got the full rights.

[Hendricks266]

Originally Posted by Corvin

eh, I'd just take a guess that TerminX and Hendricks haven't gotten entirely through the SW archives. I'd suspect Hendricks looked more into the SW archives than TerminX...

While you're right on both counts, the betas have taken a backseat because 3DR is 110% focused on Bombshell right now. TX and I will restart the conversation once the pressure is off.

[Mikko_P]

Originally Posted by Hendricks266

While you're right on both counts, the betas have taken a backseat because 3DR is 110% focused on Bombshell right now. TX and I will restart the conversation once the pressure is off.

Good luck for you and TX for that. I'll be waiting patiently.

[Robman]

Deadly Kiss
Sw betas
Sw on the Eduke engine
Sw Redux multiplayer.

That's a big back seat.

Where's ProAsm when you need him?

[The Duke Returns]

Who makes the money of the 360 version of Duke3D?