Duke Nukem now officially has a home.

Gearbox, the developer behind Borderlands, Battleborn and… er, Aliens: Colonial Marines, retains the rights to Duke Nukem after settling its ongoing lawsuit with the Duke’s previous owner, 3D Realms.

The two studios have been locked in in a legal wrangle ever since Interceptor, the Danish publisher that purchased 3D Realms, teased a game called Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction. The problem with this is that 3D Realms sold the Duke Nukem IP to Gearbox when the Texas studio rescued Duke Nukem: Forever from its status as vapourware back in 2011. Upon the release of Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction’s teaser, Gearbox started legal proceedings.

Today, however, Gearbox, Interceptor and 3D Realms have released a joint statement in which the three companies say they’ve voluntarily ended all litigation.

“When Interceptor acquired a license to develop ‘Duke Nukem Mass Destruction’ (‘Duke Nukem Survivor’) from 3D Realms, we did so in good faith and were not aware of any conflict,” said 3D Realms CEO Mike Nielsen.  ”

We never intended to cause any harm to Gearbox or Duke, which is why we immediately ceased development after Gearbox reached out,” he added. “To secure the future of Duke, 3D Realms has agreed with Gearbox that a single home serves the IP best.”

Nielsen said that he and the rest of 3D Realms were also very interested to see where Gearbox may take the Duke next. If that sounds like wide-eyed optimism on their part, given the critical mauling Duke Nukem: Forever received on release, it’s really not beyond the realms of possibility.

At this year’s Develop Conference in Brighton, UK, Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford said that he’d be open to the idea of a new Duke Nukem game. He said that should it happen, “there’s no doubt that the entire industry will turn its head and look”. Here’s hoping that if he’s right, the whole industry does… for the right reasons.