'Duke Nukem Forever was profitable for Take-Two," CEO says

by Christopher Grant on Aug 8th 2011 7:30PM

"Despite its disappointing reviews, Duke Nukem Forever was profitable for Take-Two," company CEO Strauss Zelnick told investors during a conference call this evening. While disappointing might be a nice way of describing most of the game's reviews (here's ours!), it's no surprise that the title is selling well. After fourteen-years of waiting, audience interest in the title was massive and, poor reviews be damned, Duke earned a #2 spot on the month's NPD charts.

While Take-Two didn't bankroll those fourteen years of development, the publisher did sue Apogee over the unfinished game in 2009 claiming that it paid $12 million for the publishing rights to the title. The two settled in 2010 and then, just a few months later, Texas-based Gearbox Software announced it had purchased the game, the character, et al and resumed the publishing relationship with Take-Two.

Source: Gamasutra

Tags: business, duke-nukem-forever, gearbox-software, microsoft, pc, playstation, ps3, Take-Two-Interactive, xbox

Reader Comments (48)

Well hopefully this means Gearbox can make a good Duke game on their own and not be handed a half finished turd from 3D Realms.

@The Cole Train
A proper Gearbox made Duke sequel would definitely help heal the wound that DNF opened. I can imagine them doing it justice, and, you know, in a reasonable time frame.

My life would have been better if DNF had never been released, but I also realized that if DNF was never released, that would most likely mean no Duke Nukem games ever again, and I don't want to live in a world like that.

@omgJOHN "in a reasonable time frame" I so hope you mean less time. For lack of better phrasing DNF was a broth, spoiled by too many cooks and burnt to a crisp.

@The Cole Train
The only way I want a new Duke Nukem game at this point is if Gearbox makes something that plays almost exactly like Duke Nukem 3d, but with cell shaded visuals similar to Boarderlands (and obviously new levels, weapons, enemies, items, the works). I don't want them to modernize it in terms of tone or gameplay in any way.

@The Cole Train

Many people don´t really see the big picture, Gearbox bought a character, they were interested in duke because let´s face it he is a very funny character, a badass that doesn´t gives a damn, it´s a guy that everybody knows, they were more interested in the guy that the game. that´s why they released it even though it looked kind of old. Gearbox is going to make more duke games i´m sure, but those ones are going to be 3,000 times better, they just wanted the guy and to bank some cash by ending the famous "duke curse" I wouldn´t be surprised if they were working on a new duke game right now.

Power of nostalgia!!

Now hopefully Gearbox can take a sequel into a direction the fans WANT to see instead of this half-baked half-modernized abomination. If they can make Borderlands as amazing as it is, they should be able to do Duke justice if they start from scratch.

@Foetoid

echo?

I think I need to go get DNF so I can go play it on a Phantom Lapboard.

Never doubt the Duke

It kinda feels strange that the game came out still. It has been a myth for so long. Here's hoping he wont stop. May the Duke come out with another game, even if it takes another 14 years.

Maybe they could get ont he ball and publish Daikatana 2?

I'm just kidding folks... nobody really wants that game.

@GreenElf
What if it was awesome?

@advancedcaveman

Then I would hope they would call it something other then Daikatana.

@GreenElf
Why not call it Daikatana?

@advancedcaveman

I am guessing you never played the original...

@GreenElf
I played it, it was terrible.

However, I also played the old Resident Evil games before 4 and those where all absolute donkey shit. Then RE4, in dire contrast, was unbelievably fantastic. I don't see how anyone couldn't do that with Daikatana.

@advancedcaveman

I see your point. I played the RE series as well and thought they were good games, if with a fairly wonky control scheme. RE4 was the best because It finally had a decent control scheme, among other upgrades.

The problem with Daikatana is that nobody thought it was a decent game. So, I would think that if someone were to make a game in the spirit of Daikatana, they at least would not saddle it with the same name.

@GreenElf
Well a lot of people thought Duke Nukem 3D was a bad game (I think they've never actually bothered to play it). That hasn't stopped anyone from buying DNF, which is basically as bad as Daikatana.

Daikatana was rightfully lambasted when it came out, but I think it was at least interesting. That's more than I can say for the majority of games in this generation. It had some creative ideas that I wouldn't mind seeing executed properly.

@GreenElf

Anyone that complains about RE controls never took the time to learn them. Simple as that. I can dodge zombies just fine. What the hell do you kids expect? The game to hold your wittle wee wee while you pee pee?

@advancedcaveman

As bad as daikatana???? you are kidding right??? at least duke doesn´t have any bugs, at least not terminal bugs like dakatana, and to be honest i had a good amount of fun with it. yes it looks kind of old but i blame the original designers more than anything else, gearbox could make it lot better but that wasn´t the idea, as i said before they wanted to cash in on the whole" ending the curse" thing, and to own a brand new-well known character, but to say that daikatana was better....well, at least it´s possible to finish duke.

@Punisher M1911

Why are you so fixated on somebody's 'wittle wee wee'?

Go away you immature pervert.

It's nice to turn a profit. All it cost them was the respect of consumers.

@onan

Which has now turned off many of us towards another DNF!
(Do Not Finish!)

@onan
Somehow I don't think they cared too much about that.

It troubles me that "profitable" and "good" are two separate things.

@Godmars
When you look at gaming today, that really is terrifying. Sadly, somehow there are a ton of games out there that are absolutely terrible yet turn a profit because apparently the majority of consumers are idiots. I can't believe this crap sold just because it says "Duke Nukem" on it.....It shows how narrow-minded and ignorant people really are.

@trinica the zumba game says hi

Financially profitable yet creatively bankrupt.
.
.
.
Zing!

@(Unverified) Zyng... a!

While I really hated DNF, I feel Gearbox will make a way better one soon after Borderlands 2.

Why isn't this a Strauss Zelnick's Diary article? That's my favorite joke on the 'Stiq!

@A Sandwich

That joke would work so much better if you were "Commander Sandwich".

Now I can't for a Duke built from the ground up by Gearbox.

It may have been profitable for Take2, but how much money was lost by the other companies that worked on this?

EVERY GAME CAN BE MADE BETTER WITH COLE TRAIN!

@Dooliss
Every comment can be made worse with ALL CAPS.

What? How? How could they have made a profit over the game? This must be the people who did NOT look at the reviews or people who already pre-ordered, because I don't see how else they could have made any money on this. The only people who could possibly think this game was good are either lying to themselves or don't play many games (if any).

@darksied
All they needed to do was sell enough copies to cover the cost of printing the game, basically. They spent 0 on it other then buying the publishing rights.

Took a dollar to make, earnt $60 per copy, why wouldn't it be profitable

Bought it because I live in a free country and make my own buying decisions with money that I have earned. I admit that I do makes mistakes from time to time but that's on me. The only thing I have to say about DNF is that I'm having fun playing the multiplayer. I will buy the next one regardless.

How the

The fact that this mediocrity of a game was profitable is not bad. The fact that this was profitable and Bulletstorm wasn't is REALLY sad.

Ok, I gotta be honest here. Back in the day I wasn't any DN fanatic, even though I liked the game, I never got around to even finishing it. I haven't played it thoroughly, I've played the demo at home and roughly the first hour over some beers at a friend's place and I didn't think it was so bad. It had a distinct 90s feeling that so many people complain about, but I felt a quite nostalgic about it.

Or maybe it was the beer kicking in.

@TheShaper
*I haven't played it [DNF] thoroughly...

Damn English.

@TheShaper

It wasn't that bad. People were expecting "Call of Duty" or something. There's also the 15 year development thing people are crying about, forgetting that it wasn't actually being worked on for all those years. A lot of stuff happened. A LOT. Is Duke Nukem the best game ever? Hell no. Is Duke Nukem a bad ass game? You bet your sorry, power armor wearing, pansy ass it is. I remember a time when only parents, grandparents, and democrats complained about Duke... now our fellow gamers complain. The world's all backasswards now.

I sitll hope they just let it die now.

I hope Gearbox makes a new Duke Nukem game from scratch. They arent bound by what was handed to them a half decade ago, I'll expect good things from it. Just keep the humor and rated M rating and we good!

This is exciting news - gamers will not be swayed by ignorant reviewers and will purchase quality games.

Duke Nukem Forever is a great game. Fun single player story that shares a lot of classic elements from Duke games past and a multiplayer that is top notch. The game wasn't perfect, but the reviews were simply incorrect. Duke Nukem Forever had only two key flaws; long load times (on the console version, PC was fast) and it was too linear (need some more exploration elements / secret areas), Everything else about the game was exactly what a Duke Nukem game required.

I'm confident that Gearbox's post Borderlands 2 game will be a sequel to Duke Nukem Forever. It'll fix the flaws Duke Nukem Forever had and will be another financial success, despite what idiot reviewers might say.

Duke Nukem Forever

'Duke Nukem Forever was profitable for Take-Two," CEO says

Reader Comments (48)

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 7:33PM The Cole Train said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 8:06PM omgJOHN said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 8:45PM FPSMadPaul said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:08PM advancedcaveman said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 10:29PM Hunter141072 said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 7:39PM DokiDokiBawanga said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 7:40PM Foetoid said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 7:47PM FippyX said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 7:44PM BearInTheAir75 said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 7:45PM Stevetrop Man of Mystery said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 8:07PM GreenElf said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 8:58PM advancedcaveman said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:06PM GreenElf said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:10PM advancedcaveman said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:12PM GreenElf said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:15PM advancedcaveman said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:39PM GreenElf said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:53PM advancedcaveman said

Posted: Aug 9th 2011 10:32AM Punisher M1911 said

Posted: Aug 9th 2011 11:13AM Hunter141072 said

Posted: Aug 9th 2011 1:25PM GreenElf said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 8:10PM onan said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 8:28PM DigitalEmporer said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:17PM trinica said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 8:45PM Godmars said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:20PM trinica said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:35PM 8bitartist said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 8:57PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 11:20PM DrummingJon said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:00PM ChaosBladez said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:12PM A Sandwich said

Posted: Aug 9th 2011 2:07AM sonicspike41 said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:25PM KungFuChaosNinja said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:26PM BtheCarp said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 9:54PM Dooliss said

Posted: Aug 9th 2011 8:00AM TheShaper said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 10:00PM darksied said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 10:55PM The Aquacharger said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 10:04PM arucious said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 10:53PM Mezstizo said

Posted: Aug 8th 2011 11:14PM Once known as Shadsy said

Posted: Aug 9th 2011 5:07AM ironraiden said

Posted: Aug 9th 2011 7:58AM TheShaper said

Posted: Aug 9th 2011 7:59AM TheShaper said

Posted: Aug 9th 2011 10:20AM Punisher M1911 said

Posted: Aug 9th 2011 8:18AM Leafhopper said

Posted: Aug 9th 2011 9:38AM YanDaMan said

Posted: Aug 9th 2011 12:30PM Axcalibur said

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