Duke Nukem Developer 3D Realms Shuts Down (??)

[Section_Ei8ht]

"You're not gonna look so good with your face ripped off!"

Your face, your ass - what's the difference?

Win.

[Jetsetlemming]

http://kotaku.com/5255220/take+two-sues ... to-deliver

Take Two's gonna end up owning the Duke IP anyway ahahahahaha

Turns out that when Take Two bought GoD, as part of the deal that included publishing rights to DNF, 3D Realms got $12 million. Some money from T2 HAS ended up at 3DR, and they're PISSED about it.

Always bet on Duke

[-HP-]

Woa, closed the doors and being sued... 3RD are having a great month! They definitely asked for it...

[dux]

Sue the pants off of those incompetent managers.

[kleinluka]

GO TAKE TWO!!!!!

[Xanthi]

OW YEAAH!!

[Jetsetlemming]

Ken Silverman

> .. 3DR .. being sued for $12,000,000 by Take2.

I wish them luck. I'm actually rooting for Take2 on this one. The reason is: 3D Realms hasn't paid my royalties since 2003, so I probably ought to be suing them, too. I'd be curious to know if other former employees have been treated this way. On the topic of 3DR shutting down, I would blame the management - George and Scott - for failing to see reality.

-Ken S.

[kleinluka]

royalties for what?

[dux]

The work he's done?

[Jetsetlemming]

royalties for what?

Do you not know who Ken Silverman is? He created the Build engine, Duke3d's engine (and Blood's engine, and Shadow Warrior's engine). From the recent XBLA port alone he should be owed quite a lot of money.

[kleinluka]

Uh yes but those games all came out like 10 years ago so if he never received royalties for them then why the hell did he stay at 3DRealms? Seems kind of weird...

[Chunks]

royalties for what?

From the recent XBLA port alone he should be owed quite a lot of money.

If by a quite a lot of money you mean $893, then ok.

In all seriousness, I don't think the sales were that stellar to warrant someone to complain about a lack of royalty pay.

[Jetsetlemming]

Uh yes but those games all came out like 10 years ago so if he never received royalties for them then why the hell did he stay at 3DRealms? Seems kind of weird...

He left 3DR in the late nineties or so and they stopped sending him royalty checks in 2003.

How 3DR treated Ken Silverman is one of my biggest reasons for hating them, actually. They pretty much treated him like shit and stuck him on a non-compete contract that was in effect for a few YEARS. Completely removed him from the videogame industry permanently, a guy with the talent to be up there with Carmack and Sweeney in creating engines.

[Gloglebag]

That seems really uncharacteristic of 3drealms, in this interview he is really happy about his time there. It states he shares he rights to the build engine. That he left on his own to go study.

http://www.3drealms.com/news/2006/02/th ... acy_8.html

[kleinluka]

Why someone would ever sign a non-compete clause that lasts a FEW YEARS, fully being aware of the risks it poses on your career is beyond me so I don't feel sorry for him for that either. I would never sign such a thing, it's a stupid thing to do. And honestly, he's not the only one who doesn't receive royalties like they should. I worked on Rainbow Six Vegas for over 2 years, I was the first production artist on the project, I left Ubisoft and never received a royalty check from them. Do you hear me bitching about it in public? NO. Because I left on my own terms and so did he. Most companies don't pay you royalties when you leave, it's not something that's particular to Ken Silverman or 3DRealms. At least he got paid until 2003. That's already more than 90% of us would ever see.

That seems really uncharacteristic of 3drealms, in this interview he is really happy about his time there. It states he shares he rights to the build engine. That he left on his own to go study.

http://www.3drealms.com/news/2006/02/th ... acy_8.html

Yeah maybe, but this is an interview posted on the 3DRealms site so obviously they wouldn't publish anything that said "LOL THEY SCREWED ME OVER 3D REALMS SUCKS"....