Gearbox's Pitchford teases new game announcement later this week

Could it have something to do with the Duke Nukem franchise?

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Randy Pitchford, CEO of Gearbox Software, loves to tease. He teased Borderlands 3 earlier this year, and now is hinting at a potential new Duke Nukem announcement later this week.

In response to a fan tweet about how cool a Duke Nukem crossover with Gears of War would be, Pitchford tweeted "On December 1st, we are announcing something you might really enjoy :)" That is also the same day of The Game Awards 2016 show, but whether the announcement would come at the show or sometime before was unclear.

Gearbox bought the rights to the Duke Nukem franchise back in 2010 from 3D Realms, and then filed suit against the company and Infoceptor in 2014 when 3D Realms tried to create a new Duke game. The suit was settled in 2015, with Gearbox confirming that it officially had the rights to the game. The settlement came two weeks before Gearbox announced a 20th anniversary edition of Duke Nukem 3D.

Pitchford also has commented that Gearbox did not acquire the franchise just to put out the critically panned Duke Nukem Forever."That was the toll to pay to give Duke a chance," he said had a Develop conference in July of last year. He also teased at the time that some development on a new game was under way. "I'll tell you one thing. When it does happen, there's no doubt that the whole industry will turn its head and look."

Contributing Editor
From The Chatty
  • reply
    November 28, 2016 8:42 AM

    John Keefer posted a new article, Gearbox's Pitchford teases new game announcement later this week

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      November 28, 2016 9:04 AM

      Borderlands 3?

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        November 28, 2016 9:18 AM

        nevermind, I can't imagine making another Duke Nukem game would be a good idea. No one wants one, let the franchise die already.

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      November 28, 2016 9:08 AM

      [deleted]

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      November 28, 2016 9:11 AM

      Nah, I'm go0d.

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      November 28, 2016 9:17 AM

      Duke Nukem Forever Remastered

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      November 28, 2016 9:19 AM

      Duke Begins.

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        November 28, 2016 10:39 AM

        I was going to post this!

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          November 28, 2016 10:57 AM

          I really hope it's something else. Last time I heard anything on Duke Begins, it had never gone beyond the speculation phase and would have never been known about other than it was named in that Take Two lawsuit.

          Would be sort of amazing if they had taken some older, better version of DNF before 3DR's last reboot, and spit-and-polished it into UE4 and released that as Duke Nukem Fever or something.

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        November 28, 2016 12:41 PM

        .. An RPG developed by Obsidian and published by Gearbox.

        Aliens RPG, eat your heart out.

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      November 28, 2016 9:20 AM

      Goldstein's Appleflappen Lootcrate

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      November 28, 2016 9:33 AM

      Pitchford also has commented that Gearbox did not acquire the franchise just to put out the critically panned Duke Nukem Forever.

      Next please ask him what the game plan was regarding the critically panned Aliens: Colonial Marines and the critically panned Battleborn.

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      November 28, 2016 9:35 AM

      Gearbox are the biggest BROS of gaming. I hope it's broworthy sick title

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        November 28, 2016 10:26 AM

        Maybe they bought up the license for Dudebro™ — My Shit Is Fucked Up So I Got to Shoot/Slice You and will do the 3rd game in the series?

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      November 28, 2016 9:36 AM

      Borderlands 3 is the only thing they could announce that isn't immediately disappointing.

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        November 28, 2016 1:12 PM

        I'd rather play destiny expansions

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        November 28, 2016 2:27 PM

        Homeworld?

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        November 28, 2016 7:00 PM

        The world is holding it's breath for First Person Meme Shooter 3.

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        November 28, 2016 7:50 PM

        Borderlands 2 is right up there for on my list of most disappointing games ever, actually. Not sure I'd be too excited about a third, but I am sure we'll get it anyway.

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      November 28, 2016 10:16 AM

      [deleted]

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      November 28, 2016 11:25 AM

      Whatever it is, it better be at least hobby grade.

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      November 28, 2016 11:25 AM

      [deleted]

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        November 28, 2016 3:08 PM

        Seems like he might learn a lesson from the No Man's Sky developer at this point. But we'll see.

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        November 28, 2016 3:16 PM

        Imagine playing M:TG with him at Tom Hall's house in 1995 and seeing the trainwreck coming ... and being right

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      November 28, 2016 12:40 PM

      I really hope they do a new Duke Nukem game from the ground up. One not mired in development hell from a decade of shifting focus and financing problems. It's been way too long since we've had a straight up normal Duke Nukem release like Eurocom's, nSpace's, and Torus' games. God, I miss Eurocom. So underrated during their day.

      It'd be neat to see Gearbox redeem themselves and restore Duke's name amongst gaming community. World Tour was awesome, but one new episode of Duke just isn't enough after so many years :(

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        November 28, 2016 12:43 PM

        I think the time for an AAA FPS style Duke game has completely passed. They could do one at AA level like Shadow Warrior maybe. Something that is lower profile and not quite so expensive.

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          November 28, 2016 2:08 PM

          Oh man, I would love to see them attack that marketspace, especially if it was something with the scope of Call of Juarez Gunslinger and at roughly the same pricepoint. I think doing a project like that could really redeem them much like how Gunslinger ended CoJ on a high note after the critical slaying that The Cartel got.

          As fun as it is to shit on them for their missteps or Randy for some of his antics, I really do want to see them do well and put out great stuff. Especially if that stuff happens to be Duke Nukem-related.

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          November 28, 2016 3:18 PM

          I think a Duke game using the Borderlands framework could work ...

      • reply
        November 28, 2016 12:58 PM

        I'd like to see a grittier MachineGames developed Duke.

    • reply
      November 28, 2016 1:01 PM

      No Man's Sky 2.

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      November 28, 2016 1:03 PM

      I want this company to die

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      November 28, 2016 1:05 PM

      Borderlands: The Card Game

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      November 28, 2016 1:07 PM

      Nice I've been looking for a new vehicle for dick jokes

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      November 28, 2016 1:44 PM

      Magic Man Simulator 2017?

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      November 28, 2016 1:49 PM

      [deleted]

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      November 28, 2016 1:56 PM

      Duke Nuke Em Gears of War, nah. BL3 or bust.

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      November 28, 2016 2:04 PM

      All he DOES is tease!

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      November 28, 2016 2:15 PM

      hoping borderlands gets a "clean start" like ME:A does. a new 4 player coop sounds great.

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      November 28, 2016 2:17 PM

      Gearbox dun goofed too many times.

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      November 28, 2016 2:36 PM

      he should tease his retirement

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      November 28, 2016 2:40 PM

      Why the hate for Gearbox? What did they do? Did I miss something?

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        November 28, 2016 2:53 PM

        They made Borderlands.

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          November 28, 2016 11:16 PM

          Borderlands is the ONLY good thing about Gearbox.

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        November 28, 2016 3:01 PM

        1) Most games of theirs that are not of the Borderlands franchise suck.

        2) They, and Pitchford in particular, have a history of making statements about their games that are misleading at best, and outright false at worst.

        3) This might just be me, but I get the sense that senior management at Gearbox (which includes Pitchford) see games as little more than products to shove out the door when they reach a certain level of completion. Which is not to say that I see games as a pure art or anything; they are generally products that need to be successful and make money. I'm saying that the management at other developers seem to have a much better appreciation of the art and craft of making video games.

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        November 28, 2016 3:13 PM

        Duke Nukem mishaps, lying to Sega while cashing checks, and Aliens Colonial Marines, farming work out.

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          November 28, 2016 3:20 PM

          That's the public version; the secret real version of why we all hate him is that he stole our Steve.

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            November 28, 2016 3:28 PM

            who?

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              November 28, 2016 4:22 PM

              some guy that had quite a bit of experience

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            November 28, 2016 7:52 PM

            You mean Maarten?

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              November 28, 2016 11:00 PM

              Steve Maarten

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                November 28, 2016 11:13 PM

                It was never easy for him, he was born a poor black child...

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        November 28, 2016 3:21 PM

        Bullshots, bullshots, wasting canon Alien material, throwing multiple outside devs under the bus for total blame of any failures while all successes are theirs and theirs alone, lying to consumers then using the apology for those lies AS MARKETING, $10 DLC is for retail box Borderlands is STILL $10, Brick Rocket Ammo Regen Mod didn't work at all until the 4th major patch (the patch prepping for DLC, conveniently enough). Bullshots.

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        November 28, 2016 3:47 PM

        How about using Steve to pimp lies about Borderlands here? Thankfully they haven't repeated that mistake but it was a strong warning sign about the bad management over there and their questionable ethics and morals.

        Aliens: Colonial Marines is probably their most well-known controversy. All would have been forgiven if the game was good but it was a terrible, embarrassing game and an all-around disappointment. But Pitchford, being the deluded liar he is, continues to stand behind it as some amazing masterpiece that Gearbox achieved.

        I can't fault them for Duke Nukem Forever. It was a very expensive purchase to make and they needed to finish the game, not completely remake it...again. If there's any blame for DNF, it's on the shoulders of the folks managing it before the Gearbox purchase.

        Ultimately, Pitchford has to be put in the same camp as Peter Molyneux and Sean Murphy -- these are all producers who talk out their ass and refuse to accept responsibility or take accountability for the PR lies they tell. To some degree I understand their frustrations. Making a game is a long, complex process and compromises have to be made. Sometimes those compromises undermine a PR claim made days, weeks, or months earlier. And the internet, surprisingly, sometimes has a long memory. But Pitchford just doubles down and says that he doesn't lie and throws shit back at the complainers when he could easily be more diplomatic and explain at a very high level that compromises had to be made and changes occurred.

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        November 28, 2016 4:29 PM

        The biggest thing he did that turned me off was his lying and stretching the truth. I don't really have any beef with the guy but I'm never going to believe anything he says about his games.

        The final nail in the coffin is when he said he and Gabe Newell played a card game over who got to name steam/design the logo or something along those lines. He typed up this story and had everyone publish it.... and then Gabe Newell comes out as is like uuhh.. wtf that never happened.

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      November 28, 2016 2:43 PM

      I wonder if this will be shown at The Game Awards on thursday?

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      November 28, 2016 3:19 PM

      [deleted]

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      November 28, 2016 3:32 PM

      Meh.

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      November 28, 2016 4:22 PM

      NOC, this month belongs to Astroneer and possibly Space Hulk: Deathwing which I preordered but then refunded, since I didn't want to be disappointed by prerelease bugs

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      November 28, 2016 6:39 PM

      Wow, you guys are brutal ...

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      November 28, 2016 7:52 PM

      You know, I still would want Borderlands 3. screw Gearbox

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      November 28, 2016 8:03 PM

      make borderlands 3.

      make it just like borderlands 2 but bigger and more shit.

      who cares about the story, its fucking awful and pointless in borderlands and most games of this type especially. so i dont care about this.

      no claptrap, or at least limited claptrap. NO CLAPTRAP AS A FUCKING CLASS OMGGGG

      focus on interesting, fun, and deep weapons/combat abilities.

      flesh out the character development/growth. proper armor slots. implant slots. buttplug slots. DNA mod slots. cyborg part slots.

      gear or growth path that COMPLETELY change the character if you so wish it, at higher levels. like gear sets in diablo 3, one of the few things that perfectly adequate videogame did well (after like 50 years and an expansion + 10 more years of patches). IE, gear that makes my soldier a heavy rifle/rocket/melee GOD DAWG that gets abilities to do fun elite navy seal jason bourne whatever shit. he still has a turret but its weak or now does other things like flies around and reloads my gun for me or something

      OR he can go down the path that makes his turrets stronger/more interesting. he now is only mediocre with AR/BFG's/FACEPUNCH but can deploy turrets that caress the anus of your enemies mothers before birth. eventually you get the ability to BECOME the turret, ore more accurately your TURRET BECOMES A MECH THAT YOU DRIVE.

      shit like that. BL1 was a terrible game, fucking trash on a hot day in your dirty neighbors driveway. BL2 literally fixed everything wrong with BL1 and was a damn fun and good game, legit best thing GB has ever made outside of OpFor for HL1. BLCLAPTRAP is apparently not very good so i havent tried it.

      so just make it a BL2 game but MOAR SHIT TO DO AND MORE THINGS TO GET THAT DO THAT SHIT AND MAKE YOUR SHIT DIFFERENT YEAH .

      im so tired and ambien is gteting my goat right now so i hope this message finds you well, Randy Pritchfordks and may your day be filled with love and added value.

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      November 28, 2016 8:34 PM

      [deleted]

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      November 28, 2016 8:42 PM

      It could be a proper Homeworld sequel, you idiots!

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        November 28, 2016 10:46 PM

        While this thread warms my heart I also thing that gearbox as a company and duke nukem are actually a good match. The company is perfect for a lowbrow, derivative, mechanically simplistic fps with really fucking dumb meme ridden writing and they have the right kind of assholes to promote this shit to dudebros and fratboys who will love that kind of pulp.

        If they make even half a competent fps I'm sure the same deluded souls that suffered from stockholm syndrome over dnf will buy and hype the shit out of it.

    • reply
      November 28, 2016 11:08 PM

      Hey guys! What's goin' on over here in this Gearbox article?

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      November 28, 2016 11:15 PM

      Battleborn 2

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      November 29, 2016 12:55 AM

      It's gonna be a moba.

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      November 30, 2016 3:27 PM

      Hold me! Still banking on a Unreal Engine 4 powered Duke Nukem game(that will hit next summer or fall) or a "long shot release" for the long finished but never released Duke 3D-Reloaded. A fan project that Gearbox gave their blessing to and apparently blew them away when they saw it but decided to tell the team they could not release the game at all, even for free. Here's some screenshots: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=215071662&postcount=166 I doubt it will be Duke 3D-Reloaded though as Gearbox just released Duke 3D World Tour. So yeah. Will it be "Duke Begins" now rocking UE4? Always bet on Duke!

      • reply
        December 1, 2016 8:44 AM

        literally nothing said in that post is true.

        Not to mention that the 2nd screenshot shown there is from one of Epic's tech demos.

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