Gearbox Trying to Honor 12 Years of Duke Nukem Pre-Orders

[John Funk]

Gearbox Trying to Honor 12 Years of Duke Nukem Pre-Orders

If you pre-ordered Duke Nukem Forever a decade ago, there may still be hope for you yet.

Duke Nukem Forever was first announced back in 1997. 1997. Some of the eventual rebirth [http://duke.a-13.net/].

Twelve years of development is also quite a bit of time for a game to rack up more than a few pre-orders - pre-orders that many assumed had just been wastes of money after 3D Realms went under. As it turns out, they might not have been complete wastes after all. Forever's new developer Gearbox has been speaking with game retailers to try and honor as many pre-orders as possible, says Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford.

"There are a lot of people who pre-ordered the game," Pitchford told VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2010/10/07/gearbox-working-with-retailers-on-old-pre-orders-for-duke-nukem-forever/]. "We've been starting to talk with retailers because we didn't take them directly, and 3D Realms didn't take them, it was all retailers going 'I'm going to take this guy's money.'"

"We've started to engage them, saying 'Hey, you've got customers who you made a promise to, and any bad feeling they have will reflect on us, so can we work together to do something for those people?' ... I don't know what we can do yet, but something should be done for the people who pre-ordered."

A savvy business move, Mr. Pitchford. Goodwill among gamers is a very valuable resource indeed.

Now let's just hope that everybody kept their receipts.

(VG247 [http://www.vg247.com/2010/10/07/gearbox-working-with-retailers-on-old-pre-orders-for-duke-nukem-forever/])

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[Mr.Pandah]

Thats actually really cool. I had a friend who pre-ordered it back in 2000. He showed me the receipt in 2001 that was still in his wallet. Don't know what happened to that though at this point...

 

[TheSkaAssassin]

I remember him saying something about the oldest pre-order gets some sort of "prize"

 

[migo]

It's certainly going to make gearbox popular.

 

[tomtom94]

Screwattack said they'd refund the guy who pre-ordered it from Gamestop if he had the receipt.

Wonder how they (and the guy) feel now...

 

[the_pleasure_is_mine]

Someone was so making a joke about this in my thread a few days ago...

Anyway I don;t have a pre-order already out there so I'll have to pre-order when I pick up Fallout New Vegas ^)^

 

[WaysideMaze]

I never preordered the game, but props to gearbox for this move.

 

[mayney93]

the guys at gearbox seems quite a bunch of nice guys, did anyone hear of the dev that saved a fair few peoples lifes, this? what next are they going to solve the middle east problem, and win the Nobel peace prize?

 

[Beryl77]

I actually still have my receipt...somewhere but I can find it, although last time I saw it, I could barely read it.

 

[samsonguy920]

I want to have Gearbox's baby after this. They just have one more act of cool to commit and they will have surpassed Fonzie.
Yes, actually releasing DNF will be that act, but there's time for even more.

 

[MurderousToaster]

Is it bizarre that I constantly think of him as Randy Pitchfork?

Anyway, good show, old chap. One does believe that it will be a good business maneuver, wot wot.

 

[Firia]

Good show gearbox! And I'm glad you broke it down like that. I didn't even think to stop and think about WHO gets the money for preorders. I personally HATE preorders, having only done it twice for the little gifts that it offers, and gotten screwed over once of those two times. By Gamestop. Yup.

Here's hoping retailers go along with this!

 

[The Cheezy One]

Could be expensive for Gearbox, but they are one of the few designers who I at least feel cares about the consumer!

 

[Sacman]

Yes, my pre order s finally worth something!!!
...

 

[Ghonzor]

Gearbox is just all about making people happy right now, huh?
Pretty awesome of them in my opinion. Keep it up.
Do what 3D Realms failed to do: make your customers want to keep buying from you

 

[RvLeshrac]

Uh, it would be legally actionable for Gamestop, or any other retailer, to simply keep someone's money without providing the product when delivered, though not quite outright illegal.

So why do Gamestop, BBY, et al. still have these preorders? Why in the hell haven't they refunded all the money?

 

[mjc0961]

I can already see GameStop getting out the big rusty "screw you" rod to jam up consumer's buttholes. Even if they said "Yeah, okay, we'll honor preorders", the cheap crap they use to print reciepts has probably long since faded away by now, so anyone coming in with that is going to be showing a cashier a blank piece of old yellow paper, which means since they can't see it says "Duke Nukem Forever", no game for you unless you pay full price.

 

[SurfKansas]

What about pre-orders with retails that have gone out of business? My DNF pre-order was back in 1997 with Babbages. (Anyone else remember them?)

 

[Altorin]

Well, as long as they make it clear that they're trying, even if they fail, the burden will fall to the retailers.

I mean, technically, if you have a pre-order receipt that says "Duke Nukem Forever" on it, and the store you got it from is still in business, I really don't see what recourse they would have except to honor it for the value you paid into the pre-order.

What about pre-orders with retails that have gone out of business? My DNF pre-order was back in 1997 with Babbages. (Anyone else remember them?)

the name rings a bell, but I think you're SOL sadly, I would imagine that defunct stores would have no possible way of honoring their agreement with you.. Plus, I think you'd need a receipt to have a chance to claim a pre-order even if a store WAS honoring their pre-order bonuses.. I doubt those 12 year old pre-orders are in any sort of electronic records anymore

 

[Nouw]

I hope they kept their receipt...