In 2008, while the development of Duke Nukem Forever by 3D Realms did not go anywhere, Gearbox had in his boxes a premode project to the great blond adventures titled Duke Nukem Begins. A game that was canceled later but a kinematic trailer just resurfaced on the YouTube account of one of the artists who worked at his realization.
At the time, Gregor Puncastz worked for the Janimation studio in Dallas. The company had been sponsored by GearBox for the realization of a sensible kinematic trailer illustrate the promises of Duke Nukem Begins . We have put everything we had in the realization of the most beautiful kinematics that Janimation has ever created_ says punchatz, in the description of the video he has published on his YouTube account, before proceeding: _But unfortunately, We learned that the game was canceled due to Duke Nukem’s legal problems at the time. He is referring to the conflict opposing Take-Two and 3D Realms, the latter who then claimed his copyright on the license. A legal battle that ended in 2015 and saw Gearbox out victorious and keep the rights on the license. Ironically, the opponents of the past now belong to the group.
Gregor Punchartz regrets on his side that the project was aborted and confesses that it was a rare opportunity for a studio like Janimation. Thirteen years later, so he decided to make him public: _All the team who worked with me deserves to see him published. I hope it will resurrect this version of the game by showing the world how great it would have been … . The trailer suggests a third-person shooting game, opposing Duke Nukem to the whole well-known series of enemies of the series and the game even seemed to promise a four-player cooperative mode. From there to say that the title could have been great, there is a canyon that we will not cross.