Report: Duke Nukem Developer Shuts Down

It looks like DNF might turn out to be a DNF*.

Rumor has it Duke Nukem Forever developer 3D Realms is shutting down. Shacknews today cites ‘a reliable source close to the company' who said the developer, along with the recently resurrected Apogee name, are finished and employees from both have already been let go.

With no comment available from 3D Realms or Take Two, we’re left wondering if there’s a grain of truth to this one. On the one hand, the news that we’ll never, ever see Duke Nukem Forever, is not shocking. On the other hand, we sort of don’t want to believe this one.

A few weeks back rumors did the rounds claiming the company was ‘nearly finished’ Duke Nukem Forever. All of this was based around a Tweet from CEO, George Broussard who told fans, “Closing out a milestone this week. 71 more tasks to do and we started with probably 800-900. Been a good push. Next one starts Monday.”

People got all excited and started whispering about DNF milestones despite the fact that the company is also working on Prey 2 and more likely to release that title before DNF because let’s face it, they’re in no rush with the next Duke game. Official release date remains, “It’ll be done when it’s done.” Because really, you can’t rush art.

Shacknews is usually pretty reliable but we hope the lads are wrong on this one. For the record (in case you guys care), George's Twitter drops no hints that the company has gone under. We've tweeted at him to see if you can get a confirmation or a denial and will update when we know more.

*For those not familiar with race lingo, DNF also stands for ‘did not finish.’ Leave your fond memories of Duke Nukem below.

[UPDATE] Apogee Software and Deep Silver have just issued statement to Shacknews, confirming that there is a "situation at 3D Realms" but stressing they are not affected.

"Deep Silver and Apogee Software are not affected by the situation at 3D Realms. Development on the Duke Nukem Trilogy is continuing as planned."