Investment Firm Behind Interceptor Entertainment Acquires 3D Realms
Aalborg, Denmark - March 3rd, 2014 - Danish investment firm, SDN Invest, has acquired Apogee Software, Ltd d/b/a 3D Realms (not to be confused with Apogee Software, LLC - publishers of Rise of the Triad) SDN Invest is part-owner and principal investor in Denmark-based game studio and Rise of the Triad developer, Interceptor Entertainment. Effective immediately, the new CEO of 3D Realms will be Mike Nielsen. Mr. Nielsen also serves as Chairman of the Board at Interceptor.
SDN Invest was founded by Nielsen when he stepped down as CEO of Coolshop.com - a leading online retailer in Northern Europe which he co-founded in 2002 - to focus on investing in companies with potential.
“3D Realms is legendary for its contributions to the gaming industry.” Remarked Nielsen, the newly appointed CEO. “As both the pioneer of the shareware model and an always generous partner who has provided both funding and guidance to game studios such as id Software, Parallax Software,
Remedy Entertainment, and many others. 3D Realms has also developed, co-developed, and co-financed such hits as Commander Keen, Duke Nukem, Wolfenstein 3D, Rise of the Triad, Raptor, Shadow Warrior and Prey. There are only a handful of independent studios with a better track record of original games. Yet even with this stellar track record, we hope we can take the company to new heights."
“3D Realms has always been a defining part of the PC games industry.” Added Frederik Schreiber, CEO of Interceptor Entertainment. “Getting 3D Realms under our wings is a huge step for us and we are extremely excited about the acquisition.”
Scott Miller, co-founder of 3D Realms concluded, “My long time partner George Broussard and I are extremely proud of our past, especially as developers who always tried to partner with up-and-coming studios who just needed their break. Our history shows we did that throughout the 1990s & 2000s, and I expect the new 3D Realms to continue with this tradition in full force. Our industry needs more good guys, who honor the profession and fellow hard-working developers."
Interceptor Entertainment CEO Frederik Schreiber confirmed the news on our forums as well his Twitter account today, and said that more news will follow soon. According to Danish newspaper Børsen, Mike Nielsen is the newly appointed CEO of Apogee Software and 3D Realms.
=The Lawsuit=
Gearbox has filed a lawsuit against Interceptor stating that they have no right to use Duke IP for a new Duke game.
"This case stems from efforts to illegally exploit Gearbox’s intellectual property rights in the Duke Nukem video game franchise. Specifically, Defendants Interceptor and 3DR have colluded to misappropriate and make infringing use of the Duke Nukem trademarks and copyrights owned by Gearbox."
Interceptor Entertainment has not said how this will affect Duke: Nukem Mass Destruction, but Interceptor said it will have an official statement tomorrow.
Edit: Interceptor makes their statement
"We wouldn’t have entered this development if we weren’t sure, 100% that we were doing what we were allowed to,” added Schreiber “We would never enter agreements like these if we hadn’t done the necessary research, the legal research, beforehand. That would simply be too risky for a small company like Interceptor."
I'm looking forward to it!
"overwhelming desire to acquire the Blood IP" Woohh!
I'm hoping that we get the Blood source code. Wasn't Jace Hall supposed to be working towards releasing it... anyways. I'm glad for this to be honest. 3d Realms showed their terrible management skills early on. How the hell do you reach 2006 and not realize that the project needs department leads, not just one guy in charge of the whole bloodly dev team... especially not George Broussard. You need middlemen to ensure productivity (set short term/long term goals and keep people motivated) otherwise you get one guy working on one section of the same level, for 3 years.
George Brossard imposed his vision on everyone else which is fine and dandy, because that way you get a clear concise direction and therefore the project will end up having higher quality content with a strong theme. But George Brossard ended up making catastrophe technical decisions that lead to a game engine being scrapped, & having no self control when it came to deciding "when enough is enough". Always updating/revamping the levels, gameplay aspects, the enemy design, like there's no end to it.
Acquiring the Blood IP and Shadow Warrior IP was the Apogee model going strong. However trying to fund Blood, Shadow Warrior, Prey and a DN3D expansion is overload for a company that is beginning to show poor management skills. Selling the Blood IP was good move. Monolith did good with it. Warner Brothers buying off Monolith is the sad news especially how its shifted into a license game maker.
the unbeholden can you tell me how to add new weapons and aliens to duke nukem 3d?