Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford gave the opening keynote address at Develop Brighton, which began yesterday in the seaside city. Amid a discussion of Gearbox’s history, Pitchford revealed that his company has done some preliminary concept work on the next Duke Nukem game:
“I did not acquire the franchise merely so we could all experience Duke Nukem Forever. That was the toll to pay to give Duke a chance. That said, I liked that game,” he said. “I got to see it from a slightly different perspective and it was marvellous to me.”
“We’ve done some concept development [for a new game] and I think the challenges are there. Gearbox is very busy. I think the faster way is that a correct developer can become interested and we can work with them. I think it’s a challenging problem. But, I’ll tell you one thing. When it does happen, there’s no doubt that the whole industry will turn its head and look.”
In an ideal situation, Pitchford would like to hand off development duties for Duke Nukem 5 to another team. But if I had my way, I’d like it very much if Pitchford talked to MachineGames about this project, because their work on Wolfenstein: The New Order proves that they understand shooters from the 1990s.
Pitchford previously mentioned Duke Nukem 5 during the Gearbox Panel at PAX Prime 2011. This was just after the release of Duke Nukem Forever and Pitchford said that he would “soon” make an announcement about the next game in the series.
I guess when it takes 15 years to develop Duke Nukem Forever, four years for an announcement concerning Duke Nukem 5 could be considered “soon.”
[Source: IGN]
