20 Trailers So Bad They KILLED Video Games
12. Duke Nukem Forever
After the success of 1996's Duke Nukem 3D, 3D Realms announced a sequel shortly after.
Instead of being released in two years as planned, the long, long, long-awaited Duke Nukem Forever didn't come out for 17 years, making it the longest consistent development cycle in gaming history. Forever went through drastic changes from inception to completion, so the early teasers had little to no connection to what we ended up with.
As such, it wasn't until 2007 before Gearbox released a trailer that actually resembled the finished product. By this point, the project had been in development for a decade, so expectations were astronomical. But based on the footage, there was nothing about Forever that made it stand out from its peers. (Apart from the shrinking mechanic. That was pretty cool, but already featured in the franchise!)
More importantly, this teaser didn't present anything to justify Forever's unprecedented development. Instead of boasting top-of-the-line graphics and tense action, the teaser showcased edgy humour and cheesy one-liners that were already dated in the nineties.
Due to only selling half of the initial projections, the publisher, Take Two Interactive admitted Duke Nukem Forever was a bust.