Yesterday’s entirely unexpected but totally expected news that Duke Nukem Forever has been delayed (AGAIN!) caused quite a stir. I mean seriously, delayed? Really? In an attempt to ease the earth-shattering news and dissuade the inevitable backlash from the “OMG I am sooo over this game†crowd, they made the announcement via this awesome video.
Some thought “marketing stunt!†straight away, but Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford has told Eurogamer that the delay is a real one and for good reason.
The reason? Yep, more time to polish. According to Pitchford the development team at Gearbox “really believed May†when they announced the release date about a month ago. Now, however, considering people have been waiting fourteen years for the game, they wanted to make sure things were well in order before releasing Duke to the slavering masses.
“There is always uncertainty and we use experience and trends to help us be predictive. We are not perfect when it comes to predicting uncertain outcomes, but we are perfect at being committed to our goals and working relentlessly towards them.
I think we may have been able to force May, but we think that would’ve introduced risks that would not have served gamers who have waited as long as we have to finally play Duke Nukem Forever.â€
So we’ll have to wait for just over another month after the initial release date of May 2011. It’s not the end of the world; what’s another four weeks after fourteen years? Besides, the delay is for the fans:
“It’s for the fans that I am confident this slight schedule adjustment is the right thing to do.â€
Source: Eurogamer
Last Updated: March 25, 2011
