Software coda. Updated on 22 December 2020
Gearbox and Bobby Prince have come to an agreement over the use of Duke Nukem music.
In 2019, Robert Bobby Prince filed a lawsuit against Gearbox, alleging he owned the copyright on some of the music in 2016 s Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour, itself a remaster of the 1996 original.
Prince believed the use of his music in the earlier Duke games was subject to a licence agreement between Prince and 3D Realms. Thus, Gearbox did not own the rights to certain music it thought it owned the rights to.
Back in 2015, Borderlands maker Gearbox retained the rights to the troubled Duke Nukem franchise after a messy lawsuit with 3D Realms and Interceptor Entertainment over the Duke Nukem intellectual property.
Gearbox Software, Bobby Prince, Randy Pitchford, Apogee Software, and 3D Realms have all reached a settlement on a court battle over the music in the Duke Nukem series.
In a press release today, Gearbox announced that it and Duke Nukem composer Prince have resolved their issues, and that Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour now has his support.
The issues began in 2019, when Prince sued Gearbox, Pitchford, and Valve over unpaid royalties from Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour, attesting that Apogee had merely licensed Prince s work on the game so when Gearbox purchased the Duke Nukem property in 2010, it did not acquire the music.