Micky C, on 24 February 2014 - 10:20 PM, said:
I'm not that optimistic. I'm saying if they really wanted to and tried really, really hard, they could probably do it. But they'll probably screw it up.
We don't even know if they plan to make a Duke FPS in the future. There's definitely no mention of plans for a Duke game and it's been 3 years since the last one. Somebody keeps saying that it's possible part of the reason why Gearbox bought the IP was to eliminate it as a competing franchise.
I'm just saying I'm willing to give them one chance with the next Duke game they make.
Gearbox had high expectations for Duke Nukem Forever (plus the Duke IP had lost all momentum by the time of acquisition; DNF would revive interest). It's easy to look at the game and assume that they knowingly shipped a dud, but actions suggest otherwise.
To Gearbox, DNF probably seemed like a hot prospect because:
- It was a legendary piece of vaporware - 14 years in the making.
- It was being saved from certain death and everyone knew it.
- It brought back a classic character whose style hadn't been replicated since. Buying the IP outright would also grant them perpetual rights.
- Past and present developers had utmost confidence in it.
- Internal and external testing predicted a warm reception.
Company management staked their names on the quality, so this was no small matter. They boldly claimed that DNF was as fun as Half-Life 2, and their words seemed to be backed by focus tests. According to ex-Triptych developer Andrew Baker, player impressions were even better than the ones for Borderlands, so Gearbox had a reason to voice confidence.
Additionally, past developers were bullish about what they'd worked on. After the closure of 3D Realms, a small group stuck around to form Triptych and finish DNF without pay (in retrospect, I suspect that some weren't confident enough to apply for a new job until Duke Forever emerged as a megahit). Others left for greener pastures but publicly complained that Gearbox took too much credit for their work! Once the game released to terrible reviews, they changed their tunes, either claiming that GBX messed up or that they always knew it sucked.
At any rate, the result was embarrassing for the company on multiple levels. Quite understandably, they (and potential publishers) may be reluctant to go through with whatever plans they had for the franchise.
[As an aside, I suspect that pre-release impressions of Duke Forever were skewed by development circumstances. The last team at 3DR was drunk on the notion that they were accomplishing what their predecessors failed at (the "we're so awesome" effect). Meanwhile, the Triptych crew invested too many years in the project for failure to be comprehensible (IIRC, Andrew Baker mentioned that any personal doubts were struck down by colleagues). Maybe focus testers were awestruck by the presence of a playable DNF, or maybe they felt that negative feedback would be like kicking a dog when it's down. After all, the project's troubled history had become legendary.]