10 Video Games That Made Expensive Comebacks (And Still Failed)

Although the first two Duke Nukem games sold adequately, its third outing was a monster hit, selling 3.5 million units. After the alien-busting outlaw reached a new level of popularity, fans eagerly awaited a follow-up.

And wow, did they wait. Duke Nukem Forever was originally set for release in 1998. After countless delays, the long-awaited sequel came out in 2011, earning the Guinness World Record for longest time a video game spent in development.

But Forever's development didn't just take forever, it was also unnecessarily expensive. Due to licensing fees, discarded content, having the project restarted repeatedly, running out of cash, and being bought out by another company, Duke Nukem's fourth outing ended up costing at least $30 million.

Though it was impossible for Forever to meet expectations, fans were still excited to witnessed Duke Nukem's return, especially after he took an unintentional hiatus for 14 years.

But when the cigar-chomping hero finally burst onto the scene, it was obvious the game wasn't worth the wait. Despite spending an eternity to develop, Duke Nukem Forever felt rushed, due to the shoddy graphics, excessive platforming, primitive AI, dated pop-culture references, and buggy gameplay.

With all that money and time at its disposal, it's impressive how badly Duke Nukem eviscerated its own legacy in one fell swoop.