Duke Nukem Forever sucked. We all know that. But Gearbox says they did not just acquire the series to see the development of Duke Nukem Forever through. Of course not- they have big plans for the series, and they want to make Duke Nukem games of their own. And they will be announcing that soon, but not just yet.

“I know that you guys figured out that, when Gearbox acquired the franchise, we didn’t do it just to make sure we could all play Duke Forever, but because we wanted to make our own Duke game,” Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford said at Gearbox’s PAX panel. “Soon, we’ll talk about that, but not today.”

When asked what he felt about Duke Nukem Forever, he said he was “proud” of what the team delivered, despite the panning.

“I hope some people kind of enjoyed it. When I dug through all the stuff that [original development studio] 3D Realms had done, I expected a trainwreck and I was actually quite pleased.

“I had a lot of fun with it,” he added. “It was fun for me, and I’m really glad that we not only rescued the franchise but took the time to make sure the world could see what those guys had been doing for all of those years.

“And I’m also proud of the things we added to it. I think we did some things to make it a little better.”

Let’s hope Gearbox is not the same level of “proud” with the next Duke game, which we sure will be cautious- yet expectant- about.