What’s left to say about 3D Realms that hasn’t already been angrily punched out in CAPSLOCK across a hundred different online forums? The company is most famous for creating Duke Nukem Forever, a game that was in development for nearly 15 years before being mercifully dumped during what, at the time, looked like the studio’s utter collapse. Being almost complete, the game was picked up by Gearbox and polished up for release, but even the developers responsible for notably excellent shooters like the recent Borderlands 2 couldn’t save the hodgepodge abomination Duke Nukem Forever had become. On release it was utterly savaged by critics; people didn’t just dislike the game, they actively hated it, both as a result of the pent up anticipation of hearing about this title for most of their adult lives, and also because it was objectively terrible.
Anyway, time has passed, Duke Nukem Forever has been relegated to an ominous tale that game developers tell around the campfire to spook one another, and 3D Realms is moving on to bigger and better things. Or, at least, other things. The company’s latest scheme involves a game called Earth No More and a website called Gambitious. Like Kickstarter, Gambitious allows fans of an upcoming game to directly pledge monetary support to a development studio. Unlike Kickstarter however, Gambitious allows prospective fans to purchase equity in their chosen game, effectively becoming a shareholder in the finished project. That becomes important in just a moment, but for now let’s discuss Earth No More.
If that name sounds vaguely familiar, it’s because this is not a new title. 3D Realms initially announced Earth No More via the July 2007 issue of Game Informer magazine. At the time the company optimistically planned to release the post-apocalyptic adventure on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows PC platforms at some point during 2009, but obviously that never came to pass. Following that initial announcement, the game took a backseat to the aforementioned Duke Nukem Forever, but it seems that 3D Realms never quite gave up on the title and would like your help in getting its development off the ground. Though the Gambitious project currently lacks a few crucial details (such as how much money the developer hopes to raise), Earth No More is indeed among its “Upcoming Projects.” Thus, those of you interested in backing the game can sign up for a Gambitious account, then click on the title’s “Follow” button to receive all pertinent updates on the project’s progress as they become available.
It would be easy to glibly point out all the reasons why you probably shouldn’t plan to drop money toward Earth No More’s development, but as you’ll notice from literally any other site covering this news, that’s been done to death. Thus, we’ll simply state that despite a lengthy search of the Gambitious website, we are unable to determine what happens with money pledged toward a project if the developer fails to deliver on its fully-funded, planned game. Caveat emptor, dear reader.
