Duke Nukem officially belongs to Gearbox

Wrapping up over a year of intellectual property law disputes, Gearbox, Interceptor and 3D Realms have ended their bickering over who actually owns Duke Nukem and the King now belongs entirely to Gearbox.

The suit originated over a teased Duke RPG called Mass Destruction and sent all three groups into litigation. The good news is that Gearbox retaining sole rights means that there is opportunity for cohesion and non-fractured support for any future Duke games.

However, this news comes along with the confirmation from Frederik Schreiber that Duke Nukem Reloaded just isn’t going to happen. "It was my own decision to pull the plug on Duke Nukem Reloaded, even though we were fully allowed to continue development," he said. "I respect Gearbox for supporting a young developer, and I’m glad we can now put this behind us."

While that bit of news comes as a buzzkill, the fact that a single entity will be handling the Duke Nukem franchise offers some hope for the future if they can get things together and back on track.