They used the content. DNF's last project manager when it was still with 3dRealms said something along the lines of:
"these guys have made about six or seven games over the past few years but have never got round to releasing any of them."
He basically just found a ton of fun products that were just a little ways off completion.
The final 6 million they asked for (and didn't get) was to release the last game they had "made". Considering Gearbox's timeframe I would expect they've taken the last game and polished it. I.E. done what 3dRealms would have done with that 6 million.
"done what 3dRealms would have done with that 6 million."
What 3D Realms claimed, and would have liked Take-Two to believe, that they would have done. Something they claimed they were on the verge of achieving for a decade, and which never came to fruition. What makes you believe they would have accomplished in that final year what they had failed to accomplish for the past decade? What makes you believe they would not simply have started over again?
I find it questionable that 3D Realms would ever have released DNF on their own. I think they would have burned through that money and still not have had a finalized product to show for it, as they seem to have been doing for quite a while, which is probably why the publisher declined to give them the money.
Ah I apologise, it was Van Lierop (creative director) who stated how close these games were to completion.
It was the new Project Manager Brian Hook who was steering the game toward completion when they ran out of money. I say "steering toward completion" because he was actually standing up to Broussard to promote the concept of releasing over perfecting.
"these guys have made about six or seven games over the past few years but have never got round to releasing any of them."
He basically just found a ton of fun products that were just a little ways off completion.
The final 6 million they asked for (and didn't get) was to release the last game they had "made". Considering Gearbox's timeframe I would expect they've taken the last game and polished it. I.E. done what 3dRealms would have done with that 6 million.