Please say it ain’t so. According to a post on the official 3D Realms forums, long running developer 3D Realms has closed its doors for the final time due to funding issues – as sources reported.

Although the developers did not explicitly confirm the closure, the recently relaunched Apogee Software and its publishing partner Deep Silver issued a statement saying they were “not affected by the situation at 3D Realms. Development on the Duke Nukem Trilogy is continuing as planned.”

3D Realms were working on such games as Duke Nukem Forever, which was originally announced back in 1997. However, Duke Nukem Forever publisher Take-Two did confirmed to Shacknews that it wasn’t funding the project.

“We can confirm that our relationship with 3D Realms for Duke Nukem Forever was a publishing arrangement, which did not include ongoing funds for development of the title,” said Take-Two VP of communications Alan Lewis in a prepared statement.

[3D Realms closing doors, Duke Nukem Trilogy 'unaffected' via GameSpot]