Is Interceptor making Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction sans Duke Nukem?
UPDATE: Interceptor: "We have never officially announced anything in relation to Duke."
UPDATE 11.25pm: Interceptor Entertainment CEO Frederik Schreiber is now suggesting that the company never officially announced a Duke Nukem project. Semantics can be argued, but it did refer to Duke in its previous AllOutOfGum site and, more importantly, release encrypted text that was deciphered to reveal Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction.
No matter. Here's the statement Schreiber sent Eurogamer on the issue:
"NoGumNeeded is a teaser for our next game. We have never officially announced anything in relation to Duke."
And regarding the ongoing case, he merely stated, "No news in the Legal Battle unfortunately. We still have clear legal rights to develop a Duke title, and we are going to fight for those rights."
ORIGINAL STORY 9.01pm: Back in February Duke Nukem series developer Interceptor Entertainment launched a teaser site for a new Duke Nukem game on PC and PS4 entitled Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction. There was only one problem: Interceptor had already sold the rights to the franchise to Gearbox, who wrapped up development on Duke Nukem Forever. Ever since then the two companies have been embroiled in a legal battle over whether Interceptor still has a leg to stand on or if the terms of the acquisition meant it gave up the rights to Duke Nukem wholesale.
Last we checked, the series original developer, 3D Realms - which is now owned by Interceptor - claimed that it still holds the rights to make Duke Nukem games. In the midst of the legal kerfuffle, the teaser site for Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction, AllOutOfGum.com, was altered to reflect an emergency broadcast interruption. Now it redirects to a new teaser site: NoGumNeeded.com.
According to the new site, this mysterious project will be unveiled in 29 days. Will it be Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction sans Duke Nukem? There's no way to know at this juncture, but based on the URL, my hunch is probably. We've requested more info from Interceptor and 3D Realms, but we're not holding our breath on hearing back before the countdown expires next month.
In the meantime, all we have to go on in a teaser image of a bomb that vaguely looks like a multi-sided die with a skull painted on it. Could this be a sign that it's a turn-based RPG ala Serious Sam: The Random Encounter? Probably not, but I guess we'll find out soon enough.