Duke Nukem developer Apogee Software has alleged that 2K Games was working on a new Duke Nukem game titled Duke Begins.
In a counterclaim to a suit filed against it last month, Apogee - the legal name of 3D Realms – claims that Take-Two and its 2K Games publishing label halted work on Duke Begins, which was in development at a third party studio, in a bid to force Apogee to sell the Duke Nukem franchise rights for less than their true value.
“On October 22, 2007, Apogee, Take-Two, and 2K Games entered into an agreement in which Apogee granted 2K Games the exclusive right to develop and publish a new videogame based upon Apogee's Duke Nukem franchise... The new game was given the working title of Duke Begins and is not the same game as the Duke Nukem Forever game,” Apogee said in court documents obtained by GamePolitics.
Apogee claims that the game was originally scheduled to be completed and launched by mid-2010, but that Take-Two and 2K Games “halted or otherwise cancelled all development work” in April 2009 without its approval or consent.
“When Apogee confronted Take-Two and 2K Games about the... cancellation of the Duke Begins development work... Take-Two and 2K Games simply denied it... Take-Two and 2K Games are taking such actions with a goal of pressuring Apogee to sell the Duke Nukem franchise rights to Take-Two for less than their true value."