Duke Nukem designer and financier George Broussard has explained that Duke Nukem Forever‘s delays were due to a series of unlucky situations and his unwillingness to kill it off.
Duke Nukem Forever‘s repeated series of delays over the past decade had made it into an industry joke, so Gearbox’s reveal of the game at PAX was nothing short of a miracle. Despite the fact that Forever will now see daylight, it’s been estimated that it took tens of millions out of designer George Broussard’s own pockets, and he recently gave a short explanation of what that money was spent on.
In contrast to reports that said Duke Nukem Forever remained in the ether as a “quest for perfection,” Broussard says it was due to development issues and bad luck. The game only stayed alive thanks to what Broussard paints as his own love for the project.
“I wish there was an easy or dramatic answer for what took so long but there just isn’t,” he told Maximum PC. “It was just never ready. We had lots of development issues along the way. It wasn’t a quest for perfection as some silly article in Wired implied last year.”
For example, Broussard revealed that “licensing engines and trying to change them too much” was what slowed Forever‘s progress down the most. He adds: “Sh*t happens and after delays the options are to continue or kill the game. I never wanted to kill the game.”
In 2007, Duke Nukem Forever got back on track according to Broussard, with most of the game “as it exists today” being created between then and now. However, it’s only through what Broussard calls “the result of several back to back miracles” that Forever is actually hitting stores someday. “Imagine flipping a coin 5 times and getting heads each time,” he said.
Broussard also explained his belief that a character like Duke Nukem can still be relevant in today’s first-person shooter market. Well, duh. How could a character that kicks so much ass ever go out of style?
Source: Maximum PC, via VG247
Published: Nov 21, 2010 09:32 pm