Apogee Software Background In the early 1980s,
Scott Miller often spent time in the
computer lab of the high school he was attending, programming
text adventures on the facility's
Apple II and getting to know fellow student
George Broussard. Following graduation, both of them took jobs at local
amusement arcade The Twilight Zone, allowing Miller to attend college and increase his interest in video games at the same time. Miller subsequently figured that his knowledge on video games should earn him more money than he made at The Twilight Zone, wherefore he, with assistance by Broussard, wrote a manual-style book on "how to beat video games". The format appeared popular to him but ultimately proved unsuccessful when pitching them to publishers, adding to him not having a college degree or any professional experience in game development.
3D Realms (1996–2009) In 1994, Apogee decided to launch different brand names for each genre of games it published; it created 3D Realms for
3D games, publishing
Terminal Velocity in 1995 and developing the 1996
Duke Nukem 3D under the name, with the other titles released in those years still under Apogee. In late 1996, however, Apogee renamed the company itself to 3D Realms to associate its brand with newer, 3D titles, and stopped using the Apogee brand name. The last game to be published under the Apogee name was
Stargunner in 1996. Most of the proposed brands were never used, as 3D games like
Duke Nukem became the company's focus. 3D Realms launched a brand for pinball games, Pinball Wizards, in February 1997, but only published
Balls of Steel (1997) under the name. The sole exceptions were
Prey (2006), which stayed in development until 2001 when it was transferred to
Human Head Studios, and
Duke Nukem Forever (2011), which famously stayed in development at 3D Realms as
vaporware until 2009. The "Apogee Software" name, library, and logo were licensed to Terry Nagy in 2008, who formed Apogee Software, LLC as a separate company that would handle distribution, remakes, and other developments related to older Apogee games. 3D Realms retained the corporate name of Apogee Software, Ltd. Apogee Software, LLC was renamed
Apogee Entertainment in 2021. 3D Realms continued some operations as a publisher as part of the
Gathering of Developers publishing group, but otherwise served only as the publisher and licensee of
Duke Nukem-related spinoffs and mobile games for the next few years. On May 6, 2009, the
development of Duke Nukem Forever was halted, and major staff cuts were initiated with the entire development team and most other employees laid off. On May 14, 2009,
Take-Two, holders of the publishing rights of
Duke Nukem Forever, filed a breach of contract suit against 3D Realms over failing to deliver the game. Take-Two Interactive asked for a restraining order and a preliminary injunction, to make 3D Realms keep the
Duke Nukem Forever assets intact during proceedings. On May 18, 2009, 3D Realms key executives announced that "3D Realms has not closed and is not closing", but that due to lack of funds development operations were ceasing and the company would continue to "license and co-create games based upon the
Duke Nukem franchise." They accused Take-Two of trying to acquire the
Duke Nukem franchise in a "
fire sale". On September 3, 2010, Take-Two Interactive announced that development of
Duke Nukem Forever had been shifted over to
Gearbox Software, effectively ending 3D Realms' association with the game after 12 years of development. 3D Realms remained credited as a co-developer on
Duke Nukem Forever, due to its involvement in developing most of the game. The rights and intellectual property were sold to Gearbox, however, who became the owners of the
Duke Nukem franchise. An external developer,
Interceptor Entertainment, started work on a fan-project remake of
Duke Nukem 3D in 2010. They received a limited authorization from Gearbox to proceed with the game, which was named
Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded. However, after
Duke Nukem Forevers release and negative reception in 2011,
Duke Nukem 3D: Reloaded was put on hold indefinitely. In an interview conducted with Scott Miller in April 2011, Miller specified that 3D Realms was involved with several projects: "we have several projects underway, all fairly small—not any big console games. Once [
Duke Nukem Forever] comes out we'll be definitely looking to invest into other projects, and maybe other teams who are blazing new trails on smaller platforms, like smart phones and XBLA." 3D Realms did not publish any released titles over the next few years, however. In June 2013, 3D Realms sued Gearbox for unpaid royalties as well as unpaid money for selling the
Duke Nukem intellectual property. The lawsuit was dropped in September 2013 with 3D Realms apologizing with an announcement that it had resolved any differences it had with Gearbox. In February 2014, Gearbox sued 3D Realms, Interceptor Entertainment and Apogee Software, LLC for developing a new game called
Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction. Gearbox stated that it was still the rights holder of the
Duke Nukem franchise, and permission had not been granted by it to develop the game. 3D Realms soon after released a statement admitting its wrongdoing. The lawsuit was settled in August 2015, with Gearbox stressing that it was still the lawful owner of the
Duke Nukem intellectual property.
3D Realms Entertainment Acquisition by SDN Invest and relaunch (2014–2021) In March 2014, SDN Invest, the part-owner of Interceptor Entertainment, acquired 3D Realms for an undisclosed sum. Mike Nielsen, the founder and
chairman of SDN Invest, became the new
chief executive officer of 3D Realms, headquartered in
Aalborg, Denmark and incorporated in 2015 as 3D Realms Entertainment ApS. Miller remained with the company as a creative consultant, while Apogee Software LLC retained the license to the Apogee brand and library. In May 2014, 3D Realms announced it was to publish
Bombshell by Interceptor Entertainment, and in October 2014 the company returned to distributing its own titles with a digital anthology collection.
Bombshell was released on January 29, 2016, as 3D Realms' first published title since 2005. On February 28, 2018, 3D Realms announced the game
Ion Maiden, a prequel to
Bombshell, developed by Voidpoint and using
Ken Silverman's
Build Engine. In May 2019, the company was hit with a $2 million trademark infringement lawsuit by heavy metal group
Iron Maiden who claimed
Ion Maiden was "nearly identical to the Iron Maiden trademark in appearance, sound and overall commercial impression" and was "attempting to trade off on Iron Maiden's notoriety." In July 2019, 3D Realms and Voidpoint changed the name of
Ion Maiden to
Ion Fury to end to the lawsuit.
Ion Fury was released on August 15, 2019. Since then, 3D Realms published
Ghostrunner (2020) and announced several projects which have been under development for multiple years without further notice. In April 2021, Miller and Nagy acquired the Apogee name from 3D Realms and relaunched Apogee Software LLC as
Apogee Entertainment. In 2022, Miller stated in a blog post that he was now uninvolved with 3D Realms and that "[the company] no longer has any link to the past, other than in name only" because he was no longer there to help design and fund games.
Acquisition by Embracer Group (2021–2023) In August 2021,
Embracer Group announced that it acquired the company through
Saber Interactive, which will be the parent company. 3D Realms published
Cultic on October 13 (2022). In March 2023, 3D Realms announced that it hired Justin Burnham (formerly of Devolver Digital, Good Shepherd) to the position of CCO.
Reboot (2023–present) On September 30, 2023, 3D Realms held its 4th annual Realms Deep event modernizing the company's branding and announcing release dates for several previously unreleased titles. Two days later on October 2, it published
Ion Fury: Aftershock in collaboration with developer Voidpoint. On October 24, 2023, 3D Realms published
Ripout into
early access in collaboration with developer Pet Project Games. On November 16, 3D Realms published The Kindeman Remedy in collaboration with developer Troglobyte Games. On December 5, 2023, 3D Realms co-published (with
Interplay) the
Slipgate Ironworks-developed
Kingpin Reloaded. In mid-December, "at least half" of 3D Realms and Slipgate Ironworks was laid off as part of Embracer's restructuring. Layoffs continued into January 2024. On January 24, 2024, 3D Realms co-published (with
Fulqrum Publishing) the Slipgate Ironworks-developed
Graven out of early access
. On February 27, 3D Realms co-published (with Fulqrum Publishing) the Slipgate Ironworks and Killpixel Games-developed
Wrath: Aeon of Ruin out of early access. In March 2024, Saber Interactive was sold to Beacon Interactive, a new company from Saber co-founder Matthew Karch. Many of Saber's studios, including 3D Realms, were included in the sale. == Games ==