"Employee Exodus" Leaves Duke Nukem Future in Doubt
The future of oft-delayed PC shooter Duke Nukem Forever is in serious doubt following the departure of "up to ten major team members" working on the game.
One of the last known shots of Duke Nukem Forever, circa 2000. Is the game still set in Las Vegas? Nobody knows
The story, reported by Shacknews editor Chris Remo, could be an ill omen for the troubled Garland, Texas-based developer, who "produced" 2K Games's Prey and the Max Payne games.
According to the Shacknews story, "numerous reputable sources close to the game's development" have told the site that "up to ten major team members" on the oft-delayed PC shooter Duke Nukem Forever have left the company since late 2005, with "multiple departures" occuring in just the last few days. Considering that Duke Nukem Forever's development staff has hovered from roughly 18-28 employees, the piece concludes that the departures may represent a "majority" of the game's development staff.
Many of the employees were high-level programmers or designers. One had been with 3DRealms/Apogee for 16 years. The Shacknews piece confirms that four of the employees have moved to Gearbox Software, developers of the Brothers in Arms series.
There's honestly nothing to be concerned about. People leave. People come. There's staff on the project you don't know about."
--3DRealms community manager Joe Siegler
Several representatives from the company have responded to the story, confirming its veracity in a backhanded way. On the 3DRealms message boards, community manager Joe Siegler added that he is "not worried in the least" regarding the game's development struggles. 3DRealms CEO and DNF development lead George Broussard fired back at the Shacknews story, adding that the only tasks remaining in Duke Nukem Forever's development cycle are related to "maintenance and polish." These remarks closely echo other statements he's made over the last six years, casting doubt over their reliability.
In the original Shacknews piece, Broussard is a labeled a "perfectionist," an attitude which reportedly has caused Duke Nukem Forever to bloat to a nine-year development cycle.
Duke Nukem Forever is widely regarded as having the most lengthy and troubled development process in video gaming history. The game began its interminable development cycle in 1997, and since then has made at least three major technology changes: from Quake II to Unreal to Unreal 2003. It is believed that the game currently utilizes some of the next-gen Unreal 3.0 technology, though 3DRealms claims that key chunks of the code were custom built for the game.
Can this game ever get a friggin' break? I'm a huge Duke fan, and at this point, even I'm losing all hope. Even the lame statements by 3DRealms executives are falling on (my) deaf ears.
Speaking of which, I'm on the verge of calling "BS" on any and all statements made by George Broussard and Joe Siegler. Nothing personal, guys, but we've heard you say the same things again and again: nothing's wrong, we're not worried, the game is on track, etc.
I think they've lost all credibility.
