3D Realms Shutdown (May 2009)
3D Realms was shut down on May 6, 2009 due to lack of funding. Publisher Take-Two Interactive, in response, stated that they still hold the publishing rights for Duke Nukem Forever, but they stated they were not funding the game.
On May 7th and May 8th, 2009, unreleased screenshots, concept art and pictures of models from the game were posted by former employees on:
http://talkinrealatyou.blogspot.com/ and
http://www.squidcakes.blogspot.com/. On May 9th, 2009 an unofficial Duke Nukem Forever gameplay video was leaked by a user of the Duke4.net forums. According to the user, the video was to serve as a demo reel for animator Bryan Brewer (who had been working on the game with 3D Realms), and Brewer had been waiting for approval from George Broussard, former co-owner of 3D Realms, at the time of the leak.
