hismasterplan, on 03 February 2019 - 09:09 AM, said:
In a sense, Duke 5 is DNF all over again but with no hype and no announcement which is the only positive side in all this because expectations are low. The lack of direction, desire for perfectionism, lack of results is eerily similar. History doesn't repeat, it rhymes! I'll bet that the ambulance metaphor Randy used to save DNF, will happen again, only this time another developer will save Duke 5 from Gearbox.
Randy has already said that if there is a next Duke game it won't be developed by Gearbox in house... and I think that creates a huge problem because the last time Gearbox tried outsourcing Aliens: Colonial Marines was the result. That already makes it hard for them to find a publisher and on top of that there are not many AAA publishers these days who would invest money into an IP they don't own. Making games is very expensive nowadays and nobody wants a short term investment when they have their own franchises to build.
Overall there is only one way for a new Duke I think: GBX has to sell the Duke IP (and chances are it will be the first thing they'll do if Borderlands 3 doesn't do well enough so honestly I have my fingers crossed for a BL3 flop).