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Gearbox president Pitchford wants to give Duke Nukem 'a chance at a future'

Gearbox president Randy Pitchford does not want to see Duke Nukem's legacy end with Duke Nukem Forever and hopes to give the character another chance in the future.

Ozzie Mejia

July 15, 2015 9:52 AM

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Gearbox president Randy Pitchford went to the Develop 2015 conference to speak about some of Gearbox's ongoing franchises, but he wound up speaking briefly about another series that the developer currently has under its umbrella: Duke Nukem. It's easy to forget that Duke is still under Gearbox, just because the last Duke game was a complete, unmitigated disaster. However, it appears that this is precisely the reason why Pitchford is not ready to give up on the character just yet.

"I did not acquire the franchise merely so people could experience Duke Nukem Forever," Pitchford told attendees (via Eurogamer). "That was, sort of, the toll to pay to give Duke Nukem a chance at a future. So yes. In fact, we've done some concept development. The challenge is that Gearbox is very busy. A faster way would be if the correct developer would become interested and we'd work with them."

Duke Nukem's stock is at an all-time low, following the release of Duke Nukem Forever, a game that had been in development limbo for over a decade. The character has also been the subject of some bitter lawsuits with former IP owners 3D Realms and Interceptor Entertainment. The former IP owners had intended to take the Duke franchise into their own hands and release their own sequel before Gearbox sued for copyright infringement.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?