It starts with the official Duke Nukem website, which has a new countdown. There is no need to rush to any conclusions just yet, as the countdown still has a ways to go, but at the time of writing, the countdown stands at 8 days and 13 minutes left to go. What happens at the end of the countdown is anyone’s guess.
The truth is Gearbox Publishing, whose legal information is tagged at the bottom of the Duke Nukem website alongside “Ball of Steel LLC,” has stirred up a lot more Duke activity than just the website. At least a few marketing folk have also started up Duke’s Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram pages. The last activity on his Facebook was from 12 years ago, so clearly if this was just a prank or a fun thing for the 20th anniversary then Gearbox wouldn’t be assigning employees to work on these social media pages.
Even Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford got involved, having what must be a scripted argument with the official in-character Duke Nukem Twitter account. Let’s try and avoid the obvious push to create a little viral controversy there and get to the point: what does this mean? And the easy answer is that Gearbox is planning to launch something new – something Duke related. Before anyone gets excited about that Duke Nukem Forever sequel we’ve all been waiting on, let’s tone down those expectations.
The buzz within the community regarding what Gearbox could be cooking is largely revolving around the likelihood of a Duke Nukem 3D rerelease. It’s been over 6 or 7 years since the old Duke Nukem games were available on Steam, after all. Those were taken down by Gearbox, by the way. Maybe they’ve just been waiting for some legal issues to get wrapped up before finally putting them up on the marketplace again.
For better or worse, it seems like Duke Nukem is back. Stay tuned for more information in the weeks ahead.
Source: DukeNukem.com
