Take-Two promises more Duke Nukem

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 21 June, 2011

"I'm sorry if you don't like it."

Duke Nukem Forever is not the last we'll see of Duke, Take-Two has promised.

"We don't really talk about it in detail but you will see future Duke IP coming from this company," Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick told Forbes.

Zelnick went on to suggest that Take-Two may extend the IP into movies and other non-gaming areas.

"Part of it is the economic opportunities that interact with entertainment are so huge," he said.

"Part of it is that we are very creative folks in control. Part of it is we don't want to ever be in the position of dumping something down just to make another buck.

"If we can take some of our intellectual property and bring it to another medium in an extraordinary high quality way, that delights consumers and represents an interesting commercial opportunity for us, we will.

"We have certainly considered doing that with BioShock and with other titles. So far we haven't brought anything to market, but stay tuned."

Duke Nukem Forever was mauled by critics upon its launch. Eurogamer's Duke Nukem Forever review returned a 3/10.

Zelnick defended the adult content and humour in the game. "We take ratings guidelines and marketing guidelines as seriously as a heart attack around here," he said.

"We do not market mature products to children. When friends of mine say, 'Oh, I plan to get Red Dead Redemption for my 15-year-old,' I say, 'You know this product is intended for adults?' We are incredibly serious about it.

"That said, when we put something out I stand behind it, and will not compromise. When you put all those things all together it's difficult to be critical of the company. Because here in America, thank God, we have the ability to do what we want.

"What is there left to be said? I'm sorry if you don't like it. Don't consume it."

Borderlands developer Gearbox owns the Duke Nukem IP after it bought the rights to polish off the game 3D Realms started building 14 years ago. Take-Two, or specifically 2K Games, published the controversial shooter.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (68) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • munki83 #1 11 months ago

    I've not played Duke yet due to the low scores its got here and else where but hopefully Gearbox can do something for the Duke in the future.

  • metamorphic #2 11 months ago

    Please god no.

  • Dirtbox #3 11 months ago

    The movie Uwe Boll was born to make.

  • Raniz #4 11 months ago

    Well, if Gearbox can create a Duke game from scratch they may do a good job.

    I'm willing to give them another chance.

  • sarcasmoidosis #5 11 months ago

    "What is there left to be said? I'm sorry if you don't like it. Don't consume it."

    True that.

  • darkos87 #6 11 months ago

    I think Take two should just have had the balls to say no when they saw the quality of the final product. Duke is Dead, it would be like bringing Doom 1 into consoles now, sure it was fun back then, but we can all look up now, so FUCK OFF DUKE

  • vx-chemical #7 11 months ago

    The game in my eyes isnt a 3/10, its like 5 or 6, I am entertained while i play it, its duke nukem. I just wish they hadnt gone for regen health and 2 weapon limit, i wanted it to be totally old school.

  • riceNpea #8 11 months ago

    give them another chance. after all the are Take-Two

  • Huxamalay #9 11 months ago

    Duke3D for the PSN please

  • Huxamalay #10 11 months ago

    Duke3D for the PSN please

  • levitate #11 11 months ago

    Being funny is a serious business.

  • dagas #12 11 months ago

    Due for release in 2024.

  • Inmediasress #13 11 months ago

    I still don't get the hate for Duke.
    You controll it like any other fps at least on the Pc has no real gamebreaking bugs and the graphics look nice too.
    The campaign is longer the 3 modern fps put together so where is the problem??????
    God what has the yearly COD brainwash done to people?

  • Wyrm #14 11 months ago

    Duke Kart?

  • Neil_LCFC #15 11 months ago

    What characters just Duke & pigcops ? racing around a stripjoint !

  • BBIAJ #16 11 months ago

    Shame EG won't be getting a review copy, eh lads?

  • LHH #17 11 months ago

    I'd buy more Duke games. Hopefully a new one from scratch won't suck as hard (admittedly I did laugh at some of the jokes... well most )

  • marmaduke #18 11 months ago

    It's their own damn fault it's scoring so low. No-one wants to give approval to the creepy rape jokes and woman killing that you run into in the alien hive.

  • HoloDust #19 11 months ago

    ]Duke Nukem Forever exposes crap reviewers - 100 reviews compared
    Edited by HoloDust at 21/06/11 @ 08:49

  • Bluetooth #20 11 months ago

    Sort out the loading times and the sudden difficulty spikes, and you'll have an acceptable game

  • Tomo #21 11 months ago

    This is awesome news \o/

  • Mkwone #22 11 months ago

    I'll have to warn any future offspring not to buy it.

  • jimdove1976 #23 11 months ago

    Id rather play duke than any of the cookie cutter COD games which have all been boring dross since about the 3rd game in the series. Duke does what it sez on the tin, people expecting it to be the next Elite:Frontier in terms of quality are idiots.

  • peeps #24 11 months ago

    A gearbox duke from scratch would be good. I don't really blame them for the poor reviews of forever, they took up a game that's years old and brought it to market. I'm sure despite reviews people have enjoyed the fact that they did this

  • jimdove1976 #25 11 months ago

    Duke Kart would be great too hehe

  • dingo75 #26 11 months ago

    It's their own damn fault it's scoring so low. No-one wants to give approval to the creepy rape jokes and woman killing that you run into in the alien hive.

    Goddamnit!
    This is ONE level out of 20 or something and lasts 5-10 min max.
    I accepted that Yankees flip because it has titties but fuck we are in Europe here.
    We finally have a shooter that doesn't glorify Americans killing Arabic looking people for the greater good and then we still moan and bitch.

    Just throw some pipe bombs and complete that level already.

  • username84 #27 11 months ago

    "If we can take some of our intellectual property and bring it to another medium in an extraordinary high quality way"

    This is funny. Duke is a terrible character. The looks of a throw-back from a bad 90s gay chat advert, and the personality of a door handle. Leave him where he belongs and where he was successful. In the past. I don't believe anything high quality will be made with his name on it in this day and age. Perhaps a badly animated straight to DVD Minni film available from ASDA.

  • bslsimes #28 11 months ago

    "we don't want to ever be in the position of dumping something down just to make another buck"

    ...after this time.

  • DrStrangelove #29 11 months ago

    "What is there left to be said? I'm sorry if you don't like it. Don't consume it."

    That's just the advice I looked for after buying the game.

  • carlitoswagon #30 11 months ago

    There's still room for some tongue-in-cheek Duke action but improvements will have to be made. With the development passing through different hands and the length endured from inception it's no wonder it ended up as it did.

    Would hate to see an iconic character from gaming history go out with a whimper. Just hope his next effort is a little more polished and the uber sensitive crowd can cope with his non-pc lifestyle.

  • TonyB #31 11 months ago

    @HoloDust: That blog post makes possibly the most moronic argument I've read since David Braben suggested much the same way to rate reviewers a few months ago. We all remember how people reacted to that, don't we?

  • Cronan #32 11 months ago

    Strauss Zelnick is at least as cynical as Bobby Kotick, selling a piece of crap like Duke Nukem for full retail price is an insult to gamers and an insult to the industry.

    Duke Nukem Forever - 14 years in the making and still looks like it was rushed out.

  • Ford #33 11 months ago

    Yes, this is entirely what I expected. They clearly still need to extract value out of the IP. I expect that in the medium term they'll announce significant technology updates in order to complete the damage control.

  • AcidSnake #34 11 months ago

    What is there left to be said? I'm sorry if you don't like it. Don't consume it. And if you're a reviewer just leave your name so we can blacklist you.

    Fixed

  • Ford #35 11 months ago

    Oh, by the way, floating conspiracy theories based on statistical deviation of reviews on a crap game is beyond pathetic.

  • Mister-Wario #36 11 months ago

    See you in ten years?

  • DrStrangelove #37 11 months ago

    @darkos87

    it would be like bringing Doom 1 into consoles now

    If that came on PSN (with a nice price tag obviously), I'd definitely buy it. It is still a good game. If today I was to choose one of the three Doom games, it would be the first.

    Same with Duke3D, I'd love having it on PS3, it's also still a good game. Definitely more fun than DNF.

    (Yes, I still play both Doom 1 and Duke3D on PC)

  • jonbwfc #38 11 months ago

    I think it would be smarter to quit while they are (at least financially) still ahead. I think a lot of people bought DNF despite the reviews because they were curious to see what a game that took 14 years to get here was actually like. That isn't going to be a factor for the next Duke Nukem game. Well, unless THAT takes 14 years too, which would be kind of amusing. So the next game either has to be very good, or it'll tank.

  • DAN.E.B #39 11 months ago

    DNF = did not finish

  • HyperTails #40 11 months ago

    I enjoyed Duke Nukem Forever. No, it wasn't the game I was expecting it to be, but it was Duke, and that was all it needed to be.

    And since he says himself in the ending that he's coming back, i'm not suprised that T2 are making sure he stays back.

    EDIT: Oh yeah, I think the one thing that we can agree on, is that the soundtrack rocks!
    Edited by HyperTails at 21/06/11 @ 10:18

  • RoaringPanda #41 11 months ago

    It wasn't that it had a lot of adult content that was controversial, it's how poorly done it all was.

  • -cerberus- #42 11 months ago

    Ugh, will this franchise go on forever?!

  • homerramone #43 11 months ago

    Well I dont care what the reviews say.
    Was it graphically stunning ? No
    Was it super original ? No
    Was it longer than a very long thing ? No
    Was it fun to play ? Yes

    so thats the most important box ticked for me

  • Anjaneya #44 11 months ago

    @HoloDust: That is the worst statistical analysis I've seen in ages. I grade undergraduate papers, and even the first years do better than that. There's no basis for the majority of the bizarre assumptions in that article.

  • HyperTails #45 11 months ago

    "Goddamnit!
    This is ONE level out of 20 or something and lasts 5-10 min max.
    I accepted that Yankees flip because it has titties but fuck we are in Europe here.
    We finally have a shooter that doesn't glorify Americans killing Arabic looking people for the greater good and then we still moan and bitch.

    Just throw some pipe bombs and complete that level already."

    Yeah, i'm also not suprised the conservative minded (and hypocritical) Americans went wild with that one.

    I'm sure you could go over and kill women in Duke Nukem 3D, though. Just go up and put your foot into them? Haven't played it in fucking years, so I can't fully remember, but i'm sure. There's no difference here... except the graphics are better. And they have their tits exposed.

    And what was with the abortion hysteria? FFS. I never heard him make a joke about abortion, just the game in the strip club.

    Take a look at 1UP's review. Beggars belief.

  • CaptainKid #46 11 months ago

    @homerramone

    Was it graphically acceptable ? No
    Was it super original ? No
    Was it longer than a very long thing ? No
    Was it fun to play ? No

    The shooting bits were boring; take cover, pop out and head back to cover.
    Also there is something wrong with the mouse movement.

    The platforming bits were out of place and fucking annoying.

    The humour was way to much in your face; I liked that stuff 15 years ago perhaps. Like the Naked gun movies.

  • uknortherner2000 #47 11 months ago

    @immediasress: "I still don't get the hate for Duke.
    You controll it like any other fps at least on the Pc has no real gamebreaking bugs and the graphics look nice too.
    The campaign is longer the 3 modern fps put together so where is the problem??????"

    1. The console version was reviewed, not the PC version. As is typical for Eurogamer, they review one version and think it applies to all three when it really doesn't.
    2. It's not CoD. Therefore it was subjected to far greater scrutiny and doesn't earn an automatic 10/10.
    Edited by uknortherner2000 at 21/06/11 @ 11:05

  • Zozzilla #48 11 months ago

    I'd love more Duke in my life. I've been having immense fun with DNF and I'm a 27 year old woman whose favourite FPS is CoD: Modern Warfare. O.o

  • WinterSnowblind #49 11 months ago

    It's not so much people "being sensitive" it's just that his personality and attitude just isn't funny these days. It may have been in the 90's but things have changed a lot since then. Treating women poorly and reciting bad movie quotes isn't how to make a good character any more.

    I liked Jeff Gerstmanns idea, where everyone in the game should have been completely aware that he's a complete prick, but would have played along with him because he's the only one that can save the world. THAT would have been funny.

  • HyperTails #50 11 months ago

    "I also want Duke3D on PSN."

    As do I. Come on Gearbox, make it happen!

    "2. It's not CoD. Therefore it was subjected to far greater scrutiny and doesn't earn an automatic 10/10."

    True. While we're on the subject of COD, why did the press say it was acceptable to have the 'No Russian' level, as it pushed the boundaries, but tongue-in-cheek humour like Duke Nukem has sites like EG and Kotaku acting like the Daily fucking Mail?

  • Rack #51 11 months ago

    I reckon Gearbox can make good on this license without the spectre of 15 years of bad code and design. That said I can't get excited about another FPS, even one that's going to be somewhat less brown than the average.

  • agparrot #52 11 months ago

    Hmm.

    I think personally I would prefer more Borderlands, if it is all the same to anyone who makes these things!

  • BBIAJ #53 11 months ago

    DNF demo is up now on LIVE for anyone that's still curious...

  • SimonM7 #54 11 months ago

    Excellent. Forever is out, it had to be, it stands as a fascinating event in video gaming history - one that still spawns truly interesting reactions and poses some pretty awesome questions about everything from the resonance of past pop culture to the fundamental game design changes that have occurred over the last 10-or-so years.

    Now Gearbox can get cracking on a game that's actually coherent and.. you know, any good.

  • HoloDust #55 11 months ago

    @TonyB
    @Anjaneya

    I haven't posted link to that blog for it's "statistical" analysis, and the reasoning behind it, but for the table of reviewers and scores. No site that gave MW2 90+ score and 40- to Duke can be called objective and non-biased, and no matter how flawed "statistics" is behind the reasoning of that blog, the point is that there is a lot of personal and unprofessional behavoiur in these reviews and scorings of DNF.

  • SlackMaster #56 11 months ago

    With the damage they're done to the franchise with the last two Duke games, Forever and that XBLA title I'm not sure anyone will care that another Duke title may be on the way.

  • DiamondIce #57 11 months ago

    "What is there left to be said? I'm sorry if you don't like it. Don't consume it."

    I don't tend to eat my games but thanks for the advice.

  • Seoh #58 11 months ago

    I'd love to see duke nukem make an appearance in the next borderlands game, perhaps as a comedic boss you have to kill.

  • TonyB #59 11 months ago

    @HoloDust: I don't want my reviews site to be objective, a review by its very definition isn't objective. That's why a review is more than its score - the text itself should help you decide whether the flaws which they considered an issue are something which you agree as a problem. Score is the worst way to come to any conclusions about the validity of any review.

  • ThePentatonic #60 11 months ago

    Bring on Duke Nukem Kinect

  • Paulie_P #61 11 months ago

    "2. It's not CoD. Therefore it was subjected to far greater scrutiny and doesn't earn an automatic 10/10."

    As much as I agree that COD should be subjected to far greater scrutiny, it hasn't earneed an automatic 10/10 for the past couple of iterations.

  • DirectAim #62 11 months ago

    Maybe make a decent game next time, Take Two have ruined Duke Nukem, they owe it to the gaming community to spend some $$ and make a good Duke game!

  • jellyBelly #63 11 months ago

    We know, wack-a-pig on Facebook. The duke goes bowling mobile, etc

  • KimboDice #64 11 months ago

    Am gonna buy Duke 2 for my 4 year old son when it comes out on his 18th Bday!

  • Geowolf #65 11 months ago

    So it'll be a zombie movie then? Cause the Duke sure died in Forever.

  • homerramone #66 11 months ago

    @capt.kid
    Which is fine. if we all like the same thing itd be boring.
    But I dont recall doing any popping back and forth behind cover. It could also be said if you dont like platformers the platform sections are annoying.
    As for the humor - it made me smile. I didnt look any deeper into it than that.
    Ive played worse games that got better reviews.

  • Mr_Brown #67 11 months ago

    I really enjoyed this game. Anyone who misses this due to bad reviews is missing out. I think most reviewers were far too harsh on this and completly missed the point of the game. It's not perfect, with some design flaws but it has alot to offer also, especially if you enjoyed older FPS. It is a nice change of pace from all the COD clones which it makes no attempt to ressemble and openly mocks them, which might be why so many dismissed it.
    Edited by Mr_Brown at 21/06/11 @ 21:09

  • Demonakinale #68 11 months ago

    Ok....I'll set my calender for 2023