Take-Two Sues 3D Realms, Miller Denies Rumors

Take-Two Interactive has sued Apogee Software over the collapse of Duke Nukem Forever, claiming it paid $12 million for the publishing rights to the game, but former 3D Realms CEO Scott Miller says the studio "didn't get a penny of that money."

Take-Two says it paid $12 million for the exclusive publishing rights to the long-awaited FPS all the way back in 2000 and had entered into a second, unspecified agreement with Apogee in 2007, according to Bloomberg. But after 12 years in development, Apogee - better known as 3D Realms - closed its doors without producing the game, breaching its agreement with Take Two.

"Apogee continually delayed the completion date for the Duke Nukem Forever," Take-Two said in its complaint. "Apogee repeatedly assured Take-Two and the video-gaming community that it was diligently working toward competing development of the PC Version of the Duke Nukem Forever." Take-Two asked that Apogee be ordered to keep the "existing source and object code" intact and confidential, and that it deliver a copy of that code to Take-Two to ensure its safekeeping during the course of the proceedings.

But in a brief response on Shacknews, Miller denied the claim, saying the money didn't go toward the game's development. "We didn't get a penny of that money," he said. "This, along with so much else, is 100% spin, being eaten up by those who have no clue whatsoever. But, we cannot talk yet. We will, soon..."

Separately, Miller also denied a rumor that Take-Two had offered $30 million to buy out the rights to the Duke Nukem franchise; in response to a forum user who said he would have sold the rights to Duke Nukem "in a heartbeat" and used the money to create a new IP, Miller wrote, "Hell, I would have also!"