In a surprise turn of events, Duke Nukem developer 3D Realms will be closing their doors for the final time at the end of this week. This news is now being confirmed by our sources as well as several industry insiders.

The news now seems to finally move the Duke Nukem Forever title from vapor-ware to never-ware. While we can’t actually confirm that the next chapter in the Duke Nukem saga will never be released, we believe with 3D Realms closing it is now more unlikely than ever that the title will never see the light of day.

In many ways the fact that the Duke Nukem Forever saga will finally end will bring to a close one of the longest running delays that has ever been seen in the gaming software business. The Forever sequel was originally announced back in 1997 and the continued promises as well as the delays have been the butt of industry punch lines for years.

In recent years more details started to come to light, as well as screen shots that seemed to actually indicate that work was being done on the title; and at least a ray of hope for a possible release was on the horizon. While it is possible that the rights and development assets could find their way to another developer to actually finish Duke Nukem Forever, at this time we have to think that it could actually reemerge at some point; however, this would likely be as the result of being sold as an asset to someone else and with a new team at the helm.

Some details are still sketchy, including just how many developers will be affected by the closure, and remain at least for the moment up in the air. From our understanding at least some development will continue by third party developers that were licensed for Duke Nukem titles that are in development for the Nintendo DS as well as the PSP. We expect to hear more before the end of the week, but the news certainly ends an era.