Gearbox Studios has granted a group of enthusiasts permission to remake the developer's classic first person shooter
Duke Nukem 3D. The group led by Frederik "Fresch" Schreiber, is rebuilding the game from the ground up using Unreal Engine 3.
Gearbox has granted the group a personal non-commercial license that allows the enthusiasts to use the
Duke Nukem name providing the project remains free and there's no intent to sell it in the future.
An official announcement was made on
the official Gearbox forums, where Schreiber explained the origin of the project: "A few weeks ago, i played with the idea of a
Duke Nukem 3D revision, made on Unreal Engine 3 Tech."
"[I] made a 'Test' map, of what it might look like," he continues. "Then I took some screenshots and posted them on this board for everyone to see. All hell broke loose! Suddenly the news of a remake, was all over the internet, even though the development was neither approved by Gearbox nor 3Drealms."
Schreiber then contacted George Broussard, the original game's producer, who was so impressed by the team's work he advised Schreiber to contact Take-Two,
Duke Nukem Forever's original publisher, to see if the publisher might approve the project.
Fortunately for Schreiber, PJ Putnam, VP and general counsel of Gearbox Software, which recently purchased the
Duke Nukem IP 3D Realms, shared Broussard's take on the project, granting the team a personal non-commercial license to the property.
The project, dubbed
Duke Nukem Next-Gen has been in development for just a few weeks and, as such, is still at a formative stage. Nevertheless, an early test video is already
available for viewing on YouTube. The team anticipates a 12 month development period before the game is ready for release.
