History Trivia / DukeNukemForever

** Because of this effect, the mechanics that were added more recently (Duke having [[RegeneratingHealth a regenerating "Ego" bar instead of health]], running out of breath after [[SprintMeter sprinting short distances]], only being able to [[LimitedLoadout carry two weapons with maybe four full mags for each at once]] and [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence invisible walls around everything taller than Duke's ankles]]) stick out like a sore thumb instead of "making the game accessible to today's players." This also pretty clearly dates it to before the halfway point of the decade, prior to games like 2014's ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' or 2016's reboot of ''VideoGame/{{Doom|2016}}'', both of which deliberately eschewed several of these "modern" mechanics and were largely praised for it.

* ExecutiveMeddling: George Broussard was infamous at [=3D=] Realms for being a heavy-handed [[ThePerfectionist perfectionist]]. Wanting to keep [[EscapistCharacter his beloved Duke]] [[WereStillRelevantDammit 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. 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 Creator/TakeTwoInteractive 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 Creator/GearboxSoftware the following year in hopes that the game would actually get out the door. The 14-year long mess nuked Broussard's career.

* NoExportForYou: ZigZaggingTrope: the Russian version of the game is a separate Steam entity. Meaning: 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.

* RealSongThemeTune: Duke returns to kick some alien ass to the tune of "Invaders Must Die". Another trailer features "Battleflag" from Lo Fidelity Allstars. Ultimately, they make a new remix of the classic Grabbag theme from ''Duke Nukem 3D''.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Due to DevelopmentHell causing the game to be delayed continually since its inception 13 years prior to its release, it has the unintended disadvantage of playing as though certain parts were only added in a certain year when they were the latest trend in gaming. The gameplay borders on GenreRoulette as it tries to mimic [[VideoGame/{{Sin}} late-90s cornball camp shooters where you can interact with everything]], [[VideoGame/{{Doom3}} early-2000s dark sci-fi shooters]] with frequent [[VideoGame/{{Halo 2}} turret defense or hold-the-line segments]] and [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 vehicle sections where you have to get out at regular intervals]], and [[VideoGame/{{Killzone}} late-2000s grim realistic shooters]] where [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare nearly every NPC on your side dies]] practically in sequence -- ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' noted that "you could practically cut it in half and see the entire fourteen years of shooter evolution it's tried to keep up with, like the rings in a tree stump" -- the humor is outdated by several years, the references to previous installments are years (and even decades) out of date, and as a whole the game is much slower-paced than 2010-era FPS's.
In addition, several of the "topical references" include {{Exp|y}}ies of the [[Creator/MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen Olsen Twins]] (last relevant in 2004), an out-of-date TakeThat directed at ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' (height of the Master Chief's popularity was in 2007; note as well this immediate precedes [[HypocriticalHumor a close replication of]] a ''Halo'' level), a [[RedShirt quickly-killed character]] named after LeeroyJenkins (a resilient joke, to be sure, but one from 2005), several [[AscendedMeme one-liners lifted from]] a "Ventrilo Harassment" video (another thing most popular around 2007), one vehicle section including [[HummerDinger a massive car that runs out of gas after a five-minute drive]] (the brand most heavily associated with that sort of vehicle closed in 2009), and a near-exact replication of the infamous Creator/ChristianBale rant from the set of ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' (already fading by late 2009).
Because of this effect, the mechanics that were added more recently (Duke having [[RegeneratingHealth a regenerating "Ego" bar instead of health]], running out of breath after [[SprintMeter sprinting short distances]], only being able to [[LimitedLoadout carry two weapons with maybe four full mags for each at once]] and [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence invisible walls around everything taller than Duke's ankles]]) stick out like a sore thumb instead of "making the game accessible to today's players." This also pretty clearly dates it to before the halfway point of the decade, prior to games like 2014's ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' or 2016's reboot of ''VideoGame/{{Doom|2016}}'', both of which deliberately eschewed several of these "modern" mechanics and were largely praised for it.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Due to DevelopmentHell causing the game to be delayed continually since its inception 13 years prior to its release, it has the unintended disadvantage of playing as though certain parts were only added in a certain year when they were the latest trend in gaming. The gameplay borders on GenreRoulette as it tries to mimic [[VideoGame/{{Sin}} late-90s cornball camp shooters where you can interact with everything]], [[VideoGame/{{Doom3}} early-2000s dark sci-fi shooters]] with frequent [[VideoGame/{{Halo 2}} turret defense or hold-the-line segments]] and [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 vehicle sections where you have to get out at regular intervals]], and [[VideoGame/{{Killzone}} late-2000s grim realistic shooters]] where [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare nearly every NPC on your side dies]] practically in sequence - ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' noted that "you could practically cut it in half and see the entire fourteen years of shooter evolution it's tried to keep up with, like the rings in a tree stump" - the humor is outdated by several years, the references to previous installments are years (and even decades) out of date, and as a whole the game is much slower-paced than 2010-era FPS's. In addition, several of the "topical references" include {{Exp|y}}ies of the [[Creator/MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen Olsen Twins]] (last relevant in 2004), an out-of-date TakeThat directed at ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' (height of the Master Chief's popularity was in 2007; note as well this immediate precedes [[HypocriticalHumor a close replication of]] a ''Halo'' level), a [[RedShirt quickly-killed character]] named after LeeroyJenkins (a resilient joke, to be sure, but one from 2005), several [[AscendedMeme one-liners lifted from]] a "Ventrilo Harassment" video (another thing most popular around 2007), one vehicle section including [[HummerDinger a massive car that runs out of gas after a five-minute drive]] (the brand most heavily associated with that sort of vehicle closed in 2009), and a near-exact replication of the infamous Creator/ChristianBale rant from the set of ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' (already fading by late 2009). Because of this effect, the mechanics that were added more recently (Duke having [[RegeneratingHealth a regenerating "Ego" bar instead of health]], running out of breath after [[SprintMeter sprinting short distances]], only being able to [[LimitedLoadout carry two weapons with maybe four full mags for each at once]] and [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence invisible walls around everything taller than Duke's ankles]]) stick out like a sore thumb instead of "making the game to today's players". This also pretty clearly dates it to before the halfway point of the decade, prior to games like 2014's ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' or 2016's reboot of ''VideoGame/{{Doom|2016}}'', both of which deliberately eschewed several of these "modern" mechanics and were largely praised for it.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Due to DevelopmentHell causing the game to be delayed continually since its inception 13 years prior to its release, it has the unintended disadvantage of playing as though certain parts were only added in a certain year when they were the latest trend in gaming. The gameplay borders on GenreRoulette as it tries to mimic [[VideoGame/{{Sin}} late-90s cornball camp shooters where you can interact with everything]], [[VideoGame/{{Doom3}} early-2000s dark sci-fi shooters]] with frequent [[VideoGame/{{Halo 2}} turret defense or hold-the-line segments]] and [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 vehicle sections where you have to get out at regular intervals]], and [[VideoGame/{{Killzone}} late-2000s grim realistic shooters]] where [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare nearly every NPC on your side dies]] practically in sequence - ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' noted that "you could practically cut it in half and see the entire fourteen years of shooter evolution it's tried to keep up with, like the rings in a tree stump" - the humor is outdated by several years, the references to previous installments are years (and even decades) out of date, and as a whole the game is much slower-paced than 2010-era FPS's. In addition, several of the "topical references" include {{Exp|y}}ies of the [[Creator/MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen Olsen Twins]] (last relevant in 2004), an out-of-date TakeThat directed at ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' (height of the Master Chief's popularity was in 2007; note as well this immediate precedes [[HypocriticalHumor a close replication of]] a ''Halo'' level), a [[RedShirt quickly-killed character]] named after LeeroyJenkins (a resilient joke, to be sure, but one from 2005), several [[AscendedMeme one-liners lifted from]] a "Ventrilo Harassment" video (another thing most popular around 2007), one vehicle section including [[HummerDinger a massive car that runs out of gas after a five-minute drive]] (the brand most heavily associated with that sort of vehicle closed in 2009), and a near-exact replication of the infamous Creator/ChristianBale rant from the set of ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' (already fading by late 2009). Because of this effect, the mechanics that were added more recently (Duke having [[RegeneratingHealth a regenerating "Ego" bar instead of health]], running out of breath after [[SprintMeter sprinting short distances]], only being able to [[LimitedLoadout carry two weapons with maybe four full mags for each at once]] and [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence invisible walls around absolutely every object]]) stick out like a sore thumb instead of "making the game to today's players". This also pretty clearly dates it to before the halfway point of the decade, prior to games like 2014's ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' or 2016's reboot of ''VideoGame/{{Doom|2016}}'', both of which deliberately eschewed several of these "modern" mechanics and were largely praised for it.

** Many of the characters, weapons and setpieces seen in the early trailers were not used for the final version. An ActionGirl DistaffCounterpart 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 ''[[VideoGame/{{Bombshell}} two]]'' [[VideoGame/IonMaiden games]].

** [[Creator/BenCroshaw Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]] of ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' was [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/9002-Extra-Punctuation-Yahtzee-Could-Have-Written-Duke-Nukem-Forever asked to write the script at one point]]. Most of the development team absolutely loved his output, but George Broussard was more skeptical and kept asking "Would Duke really do/say this?", and eventually it was turned down. According to Yahtzee it portrayed Duke as an ironic character and made fun of everyone around him, as he believed it would be the best way to reintroduce Duke Nukem to a modern audience. It got scrapped in favor of "Duke played straight in a silly world" that we see now. Yahtzee was given a chance to revise the script to go with this tone, but he declined because that didn't make any sense to him.

* DevelopmentHell: This was basically the ''[[Music/GunsNRoses Chinese Democracy]]'' of video games. To put it in perspective, '''everything on [[http://duke.a-13.net 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 HilariousInHindsight considering ''Videogame/HalfLife2: Episode Three'', which has since overshadowed ''DNF'' as the most infamous case of vaporware in the industry by virtue of ''Duke'' actually coming out.

* CreatorKiller: The game killed 3D Realms and destroyed George Broussard's reputation without 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 Creator/GearboxSoftware by Creator/TakeTwoInteractive, 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 WordOfGod, 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.
* DevelopmentHell: To put it in perspective, '''everything on [[http://duke.a-13.net 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 HilariousInHindsight considering ''Videogame/HalfLife2: Episode Three'', which has since overshadowed ''DNF'' as the most infamous case of vaporware in the industry by virtue of ''Duke'' actually coming out.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Due to DevelopmentHell causing the game to be delayed continually since its inception 13 years prior to its release, it has the unintended disadvantage of playing as though certain parts were only added in a certain year when they were the latest trend in gaming. The gameplay borders on GenreRoulette as it tries to mimic [[VideoGame/{{Sin}} late-90s cornball camp shooters where you can interact with everything]], [[VideoGame/{{Doom3}} early-2000s dark sci-fi shooters]] with frequent [[VideoGame/{{Halo 2}} turret defense or segments]] or [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 vehicle sections where you have to get out at regular intervals]], and [[VideoGame/{{Killzone}} late-2000s grim realistic shooters]] where [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare nearly every NPC on your side dies]] practically in sequence - ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' noted that "you could practically cut it in half and see the entire fourteen years of shooter evolution it's tried to keep up with, like the rings in a tree stump" - the humor is outdated by several years, the references to previous installments are years (and even decades) out of date, and as a whole the game is much slower-paced than 2010-era FPS's. In addition, several of the "topical references" include {{Exp|y}}ies of the [[Creator/MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen Olsen Twins]] (last relevant in 2004), an out-of-date TakeThat directed at ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' (height of the Master Chief's popularity was in 2007; note as well this immediate precedes [[HypocriticalHumor a close replication of]] a ''Halo'' level), a [[RedShirt quickly-killed character]] named after LeeroyJenkins (a resilient joke, to be sure, but one from 2005), several [[AscendedMeme one-liners lifted from]] a "Ventrilo Harassment" video (another thing most popular around 2007), one vehicle section including [[HummerDinger a massive car that runs out of gas after a five-minute drive]] (the brand most heavily associated with that sort of vehicle closed in 2009), and a near-exact replication of the infamous Creator/ChristianBale rant from the set of ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' (already fading by late 2009). Because of this effect, the mechanics that were added more recently (Duke having [[RegeneratingHealth a regenerating "Ego" bar instead of health]], running out of breath after [[SprintMeter sprinting short distances]], only being able to [[LimitedLoadout carry two weapons with maybe four full mags for each at once]] and [[InsurmountableWaistHeightFence invisible walls around absolutely every object]]) stick out like a sore thumb instead of "making the game to today's players". This also pretty clearly dates it to before the halfway point of the decade, prior to games like 2014's ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' or 2016's reboot of ''VideoGame/{{Doom|2016}}'', both of which deliberately eschewed several of these "modern" mechanics and were largely praised for it.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: Due to DevelopmentHell causing the game to be delayed continually since its inception 13 years prior to its release, it has the unintended disadvantage of playing as though certain parts were only added in a certain year when they were the latest trend in gaming. The gameplay borders on GenreRoulette as it tries to mimic [[VideoGame/{{Sin}} late-90s cornball camp shooters where you can interact with everything]], [[VideoGame/{{Doom3}} early-2000s dark sci-fi shooters]] with frequent [[VideoGame/{{Halo 2}} turret defense segments]] or [[VideoGame/HalfLife2 vehicle sections where you have to get out at regular intervals]], and [[VideoGame/{{Killzone}} late-2000s grim realistic shooters]] where [[VideoGame/ModernWarfare nearly every NPC on your side dies]] practically in sequence - ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' noted that "you could practically cut it in half and see the entire fourteen years of shooter evolution it's tried to keep up with, like the rings in a tree stump" - the humor is outdated by several years, the references to previous installments are years (and even decades) out of date, and as a whole the game is much slower-paced than 2010-era FPS's. In addition, several of the "topical references" include {{Exp|y}}ies of the [[Creator/MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen Olsen Twins]] (last relevant in 2004), an out-of-date TakeThat directed at ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' (height of the Master Chief's popularity was in 2007; note as well this immediate precedes [[HypocriticalHumor a close replication of]] a ''Halo'' level), a [[RedShirt quickly-killed character]] named after LeeroyJenkins (a resilient joke, to be sure, but one from 2005), several [[AscendedMeme one-liners lifted from]] a "Ventrilo Harassment" video (another thing most popular around 2007), and a near-exact replication of the infamous Creator/ChristianBale rant from the set of ''Film/TerminatorSalvation'' (already fading by late 2009). Because of this effect, the mechanics that were added more recently (Duke having [[RegeneratingHealth a regenerating "Ego" bar instead of health]], running out of breath after [[SprintMeter sprinting short distances]], and only being able to [[LimitedLoadout carry two weapons with maybe four full mags for each at once]]) stick out like a sore thumb instead of "making the game to today's players". This also pretty clearly dates it to before the halfway point of the decade, prior to games like 2014's ''VideoGame/WolfensteinTheNewOrder'' or 2016's reboot of ''VideoGame/{{Doom|2016}}'', both of which deliberately eschewed several of these "modern" mechanics and were largely praised for it.

* DevelopmentHell: To put it in perspective, '''everything on [[http://duke.a-13.net this list]]''' took less time to make than this. It's finally over. Among other things, the complete development of ''nuclear weapons'' was shorter!
** HilariousInHindsight considering Videogame/HalfLife Episode Three.

* FanworkBan: To some extent. [[ExecutiveMeddling 2K Games' policy]] of forbidding the inclusion of modding tools made {{gamemod}}ding difficult.

** ''Forever'' started as a sidescrolling platform game based on the engine of Alien Rampage and the sprites of ''VideoGame/DukeNukem3D''. Said project was scrapped, and the title was used to the sequel to ''Duke Nukem 3D''. An unrelated sidescrolling shooter titled ''VideoGame/DukeNukemManhattanProject'', based on the [=Prism3D=] engine, was relesed in 2002.

** Many of the characters, weapons and setpieces seen in the early trailers were not used for the final version. An ActionGirl DistaffCounterpart 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).
*** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpG54vQNdQc Bombshell's getting her own game now.]]

** [[Creator/BenCroshaw Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]] of ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' was [[http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/extra-punctuation/9002-Extra-Punctuation-Yahtzee-Could-Have-Written-Duke-Nukem-Forever asked to write the script at one point]]. Most of the development team absolutely loved his outcast, but George Broussard was more skeptical and kept asking "Would Duke really do/say this?", and eventually it was turned down. According to Yahtzee it portrayed Duke as an ironic character and made fun of everyone around him, as he believed it would be the best way to reintroduce Duke Nukem to a modern audience. It got scrapped in favor of "Duke played straight in a silly world" that we see now. Yahtzee was given a chance to revise the script to go with this tone, but he declined because that didn't make any sense to him.

* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: The extended development makes the game an unintentional GenreThrowback to 90s FPS games such as ''Duke Nukem 3D'' itself.

* FanNickname: Duke Nukem [[{{Vaporware}} For Never]].

--> '''Randy:''' [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Duke can never die, man.]]

* CreatorKiller: The game killed 3D Realms and destroyed George Broussard's reputation without 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 Creator/GearboxSoftware by Creator/TakeTwoGames, 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 WordOfGod, 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.

* DevelopmentHell[=/=]{{Vaporware}}: To put it in perspective, '''everything on [[http://duke.a-13.net this list]]''' took less time to make than this. It's finally over.
** Among other things, the complete development of ''nuclear weapons'' was shorter!

* ScheduleSlip: A decade-long example due to DevelopmentHell 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. Was it worth the wait? [[HypeBacklash You know it wasn't]].

* CreatorKiller: The game's early production problems didn't kill Broussard's career, but once the development reached the infamous "When It's Done" stage, that comment signaled that Broussard's run as a game designer was going to end badly. Sure enough, his mishandling of the project and the long development time drained out all of 3D Realm's resources and bankrupted them (they likely would have needed to release the game no later than 2003 to avoid this).

* FranchiseKiller: ''Duke Nukem Forever'' going through one of the most infamous examples of DevelopmentHell 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.
* ExecutiveMeddling[=/=]PrimaDonnaDirector: George Broussard was infamous at [=3D=] Realms for being a heavy-handed [[ThePerfectionist perfectionist]]. Wanting to keep [[EscapistCharacter his beloved Duke]] [[WereStillRelevantDammit 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. 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 Creator/TakeTwoInteractive 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 Creator/GearboxSoftware the following year in hopes that the game would actually get out the door. The 14-year long mess nuked Broussard's career.
* FanNickname: Duke Nukem [[{{Vaporware}} For Never]].

* RoleReprisal: Creator/JonStJohn reprises, once again, his long-standing role as The Duke himself.

* TroubledProduction: 12 years in which the engine was changed, money was spent, insults were thrown, and eventually [[CreatorKiller 3D Realms went bankrupt (taking George Broussard's reputation along with it)]]. The game still managed to come out after Gearbox took over.
* ScheduleSlip: The epitome of this for video games.

* UnfortunateNames: The acronym of the game is "DNF", which in racing, means "Did Not Finish". While it was eventually subverted after being released, before then, it was yet another joke made at the expense of the game.

* [[NetworkToTheRescue Gearbox To The Rescue]][=/=]UnCancelled: Gearbox bought the game to publish (allegedly, with funds embezzled from production of another game, AliensColonialMarines).
--> '''Randy:''' ''[[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming "Duke can never die, man."]]''

* ScheduleSlip: The epitome of this for video games
* [[UnfortunateNames Unfortunate]] [[FunWithAcronyms Acronym]]: The acronym of the game is "DNF", which in racing, means "Did Not Finish". While it was eventually subverted after being released, before then, it was yet another joke made at the expense of the game.

* [[NetworkToTheRescue Gearbox To The Rescue]][=/=]UnCancelled: Randy Pitchford (and Gearbox as a whole) deserves a Nobel for going to the rescue of a game which was destined to die.

* ScheduleSlip: The epitome of this for video games.

* ExecutiveMeddling[=/=]PrimaDonnaDirector: George Broussard was infamous at [=3D=] Realms for being a heavy-handed [[ThePerfectionist perfectionist]]. Wanting to keep [[EscapistCharacter his beloved Duke]] [[WereStillRelevantDammit 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. 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 Creator/TakeTwoInteractive 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 Creator/GearboxSoftware the following year in hopes that the game would actually get out the door. The 14-year long mess nuked Broussard's career.

This game has a [[DevelopmentHistory/DukeNukemForever page]] about its (in)famous development.

* HeyItsThatVoice:
** Creator/JonStJohn reprises his role as Duke in English.
** Creator/FumihikoTachiki provides Duke's Japanese voice for the first time ever in the story of the franchise. This is also considered as HilariousInHindsight, since his most famous role was voicing '''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion Gendo Ikari]]''', and unlike Duke, he wants his girl back, [[spoiler: '''and he'll bring the end of the world along with her!''']]
** The Holsom twins are voiced by Creator/EriKitamura and YukoGoto, aka [[Anime/QueensBlade Alleyne and Menace]] and [[Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica Sayaka Miki and Junko Kaname]]. Miso and Chastity are voiced by Izumi Kitta and Sora Tokui, aka [[Anime/TanteiOperaMilkyHolmes Cordelia and Nero]] and [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic Applejack and Rainbow Dash in Japanese]].

* PigeonholedVoiceActor: Jon St. John is reprising, once again, his long-standing role as The Duke himself.

* TalkingToHimself: Near the beginning of the game Duke gets into a brief argument with an obnoxious tourist sitting on his throne. The obnoxious tourist is also played by Jon St. John, apparently. It seems the guy has a pretty impressive vocal range.

* CreatorKiller: The game's early production problems didn't kill Broussard's career, but once the development reached the infamous "When It's Done" stage, that comment signaled that Broussard's run as a game designer was going to end badly.

* ExecutiveMeddling[=/=]PrimaDonnaDirector: George Broussard was infamous at [=3D=] Realms for being a heavy-handed [[ThePerfectionist perfectionist]]. Wanting to keep [[EscapistCharacter his beloved Duke]] [[WereStillRelevantDammit 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. 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 Creator/TakeTwoInteractive 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 Creator/GearboxSoftware the following year in hopes that the game would actually get out the door.