Close on the heels of the surprise resurrection of Duke Nukem Forever by Gearbox and 2K Games – with the companies presenting a playable demo of the game at the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) in Seattle -, it is now being reported that the game’s creator 3D Realms had sold the rights to Gearbox.

According to Gamasutra, Gearbox co-founder and chief executive Randy Pitchford revealed that even though the Duke Nukem Forever (DNF) journey has been tumultuous, to say the least, the team behind the development of the game has been notably committed to it all through.

Incidentally, Pitchford, whose first job was at 3D Realms, had worked on Duke Nukem 3D and even spent some time on DNF in its early days.

Pitchford said: “Over the years, we’ve all kind of watched the story unfold about the tumultuous development the game has been under. One thing has been consistent, though. The guys that were on it were committed to it.”

While some of the employees dispersed and found other jobs after the DNF development team was laid off last May, Pitchford came to know that Allen Blum, who helped create Duke Nukem, continued to work on the game, with a few other ex-3DR developers. 

It was then that Pitchford consulted the Gearbox Executive VP Brian Martel to work out the revival of DNF. After nearly a year of negotiations, 3DR finally handed over the DNF intellectual property to Gearbox which, with the help of the “committed” employees, managed to revive the game!