Gearbox Head Hints at Possible Duke Nukem Announcement Coming December 1st

New Duke Nukem Game On The Way?

This past Wednesday, Gearbox Software CEO and President, Randy Pitchford tweeted “Gearbox just got a rage mail from a customer who seems to be very upset about issues with ranked games in Gears of War” (see tweets below).

The humour being that Gearbox Software isn’t involved with Gears of War at all, that’s a Microsoft/The Coalition game. Despite knowing this, I couldn’t help but chime in with a tweet of my own: “A Duke Nukem/Gears of War crossover would be pretty badass… Was the email from the future?”.

Obviously, my comment was just me being a smart ass (if you follow me on Twitter, you’ll see a lot of that). What happened next just floored me. Randy Pitchford actually replied saying: “On December 1st, we are announcing something you might really enjoy :)”

Duke Nukem

What could this announcement be? Considering the context, I think it’s safe to say it’s Duke Nukem related. With the recent release of Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniverary World Tour, the timing for more Duke Nukem couldn’t be more perfect. But, what exactly will it be? I have two other theories.

1.) Duke Nukem will be a new character added to Battleborn. Let’s be honest, Battleborn hasn’t generate the type of success that Gearbox Software was probably hoping for. What better way to boost interest in the game than adding a few familiar faces? And the easiest way to do that would be to use Gearbox Software’s own franchises, i.e. Borderlands characters and, quite possibly, Mr. Nukem himself.

2.) Duke Nukem is getting a brand new game. The new game would feature a shorter, and hopefully less tumultuous, development from it’s predecessor, Duke Nukem Forever (which I still believe was under-rated and under-appreciated). I think it’s safe to say that it will be a first person shooter, voiced by Jon St. John (who’s voiced Duke for 20 years!) and feature plenty of that Nukem humour that many of us gamers appreciate!

Either way, as a fan of Gearbox Software, I’m very excited to see what December 1st brings us!