Trivia / Duke Nukem Forever

• Approval of God: In addition to the engine, Epic Games gave 3D Realms permission to use some Unreal Tournament levels as a base to create Deathmatch-exclusive levels, which is why the 2001 leaked beta has Deck #16 as a Dukematch level.
• Bad Export for You: The Russian version of the game is a separate Steam entity. It is locked out of Steam's usual language-selection options, as well as any patches and DLC, because the localization company and 2K Games cannot agree on whose responsibility it is to adapt them for the locked-down Russian-only release. All the appropriate access and unlock codes are provided, but they are simply not compatible with the Russian version.
• Banned in China: The game itself wasn't banned in the UK, but they had to change the cover art due to it being illegal to publicly depict smoking in the country. As a result, Duke's cigar was deleted, and his expression changed to a vaguely annoyed look.
• Budget-Busting Element: The need to keep up to date with the latest engine and fanciest graphics doomed Duke Nukem Forever and took down George Broussard's career with him (3D Realms barely survived this one). Forever began to be developed in id Software's Id Tech 2 engine (the same one that powered Quake II and SiN). Before development started on the game, it was decided that Epic Games's Unreal Engine 1 (Unreal and Unreal Tournament) was the engine of choice; the 2001 leaked version was even running under this engine. Then they switched to the Unreal Engine 2, but by then the game just went overbudget and the morale of the team was quite low; 5 years later the game was cancelled, and Gearbox Software (already having established a name by themselves thanks to the Sleeper Hit Borderlands) bought the franchise and resumed development in the game, finally managing to finish and release the game.
• Content Leak: Two builds from the 2001 incarnation (one from August 21 and other from October 26) alongside the respective source core were leaked on 4chan on May 9 of 2022. There's still much investigation to be done, but it seems to be the same version that was shown on E3 2001.
• Creator Backlash: George Broussard doesn't have too many kind things to say about the game, which is understandable considering its protracted development.
• Creator Killer: The game caused 3D Realms to cease internal development and sticking to publishing, destroying George Broussard's reputation without it even being made... or more accurately, by not being made. And just to twist the knife, after 3D Realms imploded, the game was handed to Gearbox Software by Take-Two Interactive, who only needed one year to finish where Broussard and his team had left off after twelve years in and out of development. According to Word of God, the game was already finished; Broussard's perfectionism and the Take-Two lawsuit were the primary factors that kept it from coming out anywhere close to on-time.
• Development Hell: Thanks to its excessive 14-year development time, it's known as one of the most infamous examples in video game history, if not THE most. It wouldn't be surpassed until Beyond Good & Evil 2 in late 2022.
• Dummied Out:
  • Using console commands, players can give Duke a weapon called the Mini Nuke, complete with model, textures, animations and all — everything, in fact, except the damage expected from a nuclear missile.
  • The console itself. You need to use an external program to re-enable it.
• Executive Meddling: George Broussard was infamous at 3D Realms for being a heavy-handed perfectionist. Wanting to keep his beloved Duke as perfect and up-to-date as possible, he went on a decade-long self-appointed quest to apply everything he found interesting into the game, to the point of buying the licenses for entire game engines to force his employees to work around them (an act Zero Punctuation compared to a man trying to build a house opposite a boat as it sailed down a river). The constant delays (which got so bad that circa 2003 the developer changed the release date to "When It's Done") drove publisher and parent company Take-Two Interactive nuts, and they had to resort to threatening lawsuits to get Broussard's team to speed up, following through with the threats in 2007. 3D Realms was dissolved in 2009 and development rights were passed on by Take-Two to Gearbox Software the following year in hopes that the game would actually get out the door. The 14-year long mess nuked Broussard's career, as 3D Realms still exists and is making retraux-style games without him.
• Fan-Work Ban: To some extent. 2K Games' policy of forbidding the inclusion of modding tools made modding difficult.
• Follow the Leader: The biggest criticism of the game (arguably except the sexism) is its similarities to other modern shooters, in spite of including several Take Thats against said games.
• Franchise Killer: Going through one of the most infamous examples of Development Hell in entertainment history more or less put a handicap on the game right away when it finally was given the green light to stores, and the flaws that came out in spite of the "Perfectionist" attempts led to not much being said about Duke after the game was wrapped and Gearbox moved on. While not as well-known, the DS game, Duke Nukem: Critical Mass, released the same year as Forever, and its own negative reception among those who did play it certainly didn't do anything to help. Though Gearbox still kept a firm hold of the IP while the new owner of the 3D Realms IP moved on without Duke. Incidentally as of 2021, both are owned by the Embracer Group (though, in 2024, both were split again due to financial troubles at Embracer Group, with 3D Realms’s parent company, Saber Interactive, split off into it’s own company, and Gearbox bought by, ironically enough, Take-Two Interactive).
• Limited Special Collector's Ultimate Edition: The Duke Nukem Forever Balls of Steel Edition provides the page image, and with damn good reason! Comes with a bust of Duke himself, an artbook with art through the ages, a limited edition comic book, and other such novelties! All for the heart attack-causingly low price of $99.99! If you live in the US and are near a Gamestop or have access to Amazon, that is. No actual Balls of Steel included, though.
  • Ironically it sold so poorly on release that the collector's edition would actually become a pretty common buy for people just somewhat interested in the game due to how many were made vs sold driving their price in to the sub-$30 range at times.
• Missing Episode: Reportedly, the 2001 build of the game, as advertised in the 2001 E3 trailer, was 90 percent finished before George Broussard decided to restart development on a newer engine. Despite massive fan interest, this version of the game has only gotten into the hands of the public as a Content Leak due to legal hang ups with Take Two Interactive as well as Randy Pitchford's belief that the build should be released as an extra in a potential Duke Nukem game compilation.
• Network to the Rescue: Gearbox bought the game to publish (allegedly, with funds taken from production of another game, Aliens: Colonial Marines) because, in Randy Pitchford's words, "Duke can never die, man".
• Promoted Fanboy: Randy Pitchford, who worked on Duke Nukem 3D as a junior developer, states he was (and is) Duke Nukem's biggest fan, and made sure that 3D Realms' game wouldn't die.
• Real Song Theme Tune: Duke returns to kick some alien ass to the tune of "Invaders Must Die". Another trailer features "Battleflag" from Lo Fidelity Allstars. Ultimately, they made a new remix of the classic Grabbag theme from Duke Nukem 3D.
• Saved from Development Hell: This was basically the Chinese Democracy of video games. To put it in perspective, everything on this list took less time to make than this. It's finally over. Among other things, the complete development of nuclear weapons was shorter! It's also Hilarious in Hindsight considering Half-Life 2: Episode Three, which has since overshadowed DNF as the most infamous case of vaporware in the industry by virtue of Duke actually coming out.
• Schedule Slip: A decade-long example due to Development Hell and Vaporware; it was "coming soon" for 14 years before finally being released in June 2011 (after suffering one last one month delay, a fact the developers readily lampshaded). It took transferring property of the game from 3D Realms to Gearbox to make it happen.
• Troubled Production: The game became a byword for Vaporware through its 14-year development.
  • The game was first announced in 1997 and made a point to use the latest in technology, with 3D Realms licensing id Software's iDTech 2 engine at an exorbinate cost - roughly $500,000^note to put this in perspective, the licensing costs for powerful game engines late in the next decade, like Unreal Engine 3, didn't cost that much. While the game's showing at E3 1998 impressed many, 3D Realms co-founder George Broussard was concerned that the game would be overshadowed by the likes of Unreal and Half-Life. The team made a unanimous decision to switch to the Unreal engine, a decision that required scrapping the work they had done up to that point.
  • The game would miss release dates for the next few years, and public appearances of the game ceased amid publisher troubles before the game landed with Take-Two. Forever would reemerge at E3 2001, becoming the talk of the show with its advanced graphics and interactivity. The team was elated at the response, but the game would once again fade from the public eye; the release date now being "When it's done.", which became the subject of mockery and Memetic Mutation.
  • Many who worked on the game blame the delays on Broussard, whose perfectionism and desire to upstage the competition led to the game constantly shifting as new technologies and gameplay innovations arrived, with no end goal in sight. The company's outdated mentality toward game development was also an issue, as it used small teams and a management structure that was inefficient and understaffed for the demands of a big-budget title; 3D Realms developer Scott Miller said that the game never had a clear roadmap and it was mostly adlibbeded as it went along.
  • As the game was funded entirely by 3D Realms, the game was effectively immune to Executive Meddling by publishers, which led to tensions between Take-Two and 3D Realms over the lack of progress. In response to Take-Two CEO Jeffrey Lapin claiming that the game would cost the company $5.5 million of its earnings in 2003, Broussard publicly stated that "Take-Two needs to STFU". Broussard would make several other statements against Take-Two, his Protection from Editors rendering him immune to retaliation.
  • With development dragging on through the mid-2000s, the team became restless with the constant delays and being paid via deferred income; many began walking out. By late 2006, Broussard began to take the idea of finishing the game seriously and the company would bring in new hires in 2007, most notably Brian Hook as project lead, who was the first to push back against Broussard's demands. Media began to be released once again, starting with a small trailer in late 2007 and in-game footage appearing on The Jace Hall Show in 2008.
  • But funds finally began to dry up. 3D Realms, having spent over $20 million of its own money on Forever, approached Take-Two for an additional $6 million to complete the game. Both parties have conflicting accounts about the exact counter-offer made, but Broussard rejected the offer and 3D Realms ceased development in May of 2009, laying off the development staff. Take-Two filed a lawsuit against 3D Realms for failing to complete the game, which would be settled out of court in 2010. While internal development at 3D Realms had ceased, work continued by ex-employees under Triptych Games.
  • With the PC version of the game nearly complete, 3D Realms contacted Gearbox Software to assist development and create console ports. Gearbox CEO Randy Pitchford - a former 3D Realms employee who had worked on Duke 3D - convinced 2K Games that Gearbox and Triptych could finally complete the game. The near-final version of Forever made a surprise showing at Penny Arcade Expo 2010 with a playable public demo. It was the first time the game had been shown to the public since E3 2001. The reveal of a playable demo reignited interest in the game, sending the internet abuzz with the news while hours-long lines formed for the demo.
  • A new release date was finally set: May 3, 2011. Fittingly, this date would be pushed back one last time to June 2011. While the development nightmare was finally over, the aftershocks continued to echo for years. Gearbox and 3D Realms would tangle in legal disputes over the ownership of the Duke Nukem property, with 3D Realms eventually conceding to Gearbox.
• Un-Canceled: After 14 years in Development Hell, the game was finally released. Always bet on Duke!
• What Could Have Been: Start with the fact that the game we got only ever got finished because many of the levels were shortened, merged, or just cut out and work from there.
  • Forever started as a sidescrolling platform game based on the engine of Alien Rampage and the sprites of Duke Nukem 3D. Said project was scrapped, and the title was used for the sequel to Duke Nukem 3D. An unrelated sidescrolling shooter titled Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, based on the Prism3D engine, was released in 2002.
  • Many of the characters, weapons and setpieces seen in the early trailers were not used for the final version. An Action Girl Distaff Counterpart of Duke (Bombshell) and a character named "The Prospector" were both absent from the final game (and were likely cut long before Gearbox got their hands on the game). Bombshell has since gotten two games.
  • There were also plans to introduce a mirror universe "NegaDuke".
  • Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw of Zero Punctuation was asked to write the script at one point. According to Yahtzee, his draft reimagined Duke as an ironic Disco Dan type character, deriving its comedy from how his '90s machismo clashed with the modern world (reflecting how gaming culture had changed drastically during the game's long and troubled production). While most of the development team liked this concept, director George Broussard disagreed, instead wanting Duke to be entirely unironic; "a serious guy in a silly world". Yahtzee was given a chance to revise the script to go with this tone, but he declined, feeling that it "made no sense" to portray Duke that way.
  • Scott Miller tried to hand over development of the game to Digital Extremes around 2004 to get the game finished. Digital Extremes was eager to take over Duke Nukem Forever but the idea was shut down by 3D Realms. According to Scott, this turned out to be a fatal suicide shot for the game.
  • Ports for the Nintendo GameCube, PlayStation 2 and the Platform/Xbox of the original 2001 version were planned.

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