20 Stupid Decisions That Destroyed Their Franchise
5. Out of Touch Humor – Duke Nukem Forever
By and large, people react quite differently to toxic masculinity and offensive comedy today compared to at the end of the 20th century. After all, the 1990s were all about edgy entertainment, counterculture fashion, and other markers of youth defiance and individuality.
That’s why the original Duke Nukem trilogy’s crass humor – centered around parodying 1980s action/sci-fi movie machismo and misogyny – amused fans. In fact, 3D Realms’ ridiculous but innovative Duke Nukem 3D helped popularize the first-person shooter subgenre in 1996. So, the next logical step was to produce and ship its sequel, Duke Nukem Forever, by the end of 1998.
Well, that was the plan, anyway.
In actuality, the title faced legendary delays as it combated significant changes in direction, game engines, and staff sizes. Ultimately, it took almost 15 years for Duke Nukem Forever to arrive, and when it did, its contents and reception were less than ideal.
The real nail in the coffin was the game being outdated mechanically, narratively, and tonally due to its corny pop culture references, sexist depictions of women, and – per Destructoid – representation of the titular badass as “a vile, callous, thoroughly detestable psychopath.”
Duke Nukem may’ve been awesome decades ago, but he was clearly antiquated and abhorrent in 2011, and if his gimmicks no longer worked back then, they definitely wouldn’t work now.