Duke Nukem and the analysis of fail

Our favorite joke in the gaming industry is analyzed after it's death. It's not funny, but it's an actual, thoughtful piece on how a studio goes from EPIC WIN to EPIC FAIL in over a decade.

WIRED ARTICLE: THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF DUKE

It's an interesting discussion, and I'd like to have an intellectual discourse on this to anyone willing to have one. Post with your thoughts.

that is a very insightful article on the development process, and how success can go terribly wrong. Of course, very few people win the lottery and end up better off for it, the windfall curse was clearly a factor in duke nukem.

It's also very interesting to hear how the devs wanted it to become a household name, like mario. It only achieved a sort of cult fandom, and immortality as a trope for failure. Its a bit of a disconnect to say we have 5 more years of money and also have a grandiose vision to release a game every year in a franchise fashion. And for all the venom towards the suits, its the suit/artist relationship that brings things like that back into focus. A quote i think i've heard is "from conflict comes greatness" or something like that.

Another thing I take from the story is that in making DNF, they were chasing that high from the first success, and they probably would have achieved it multiple times if they had released a game when they had it near done.

I don't think there is anything in the article I find outright implausible. It is disappointing that they got so close so many times, at least its portrayed that way.

I agree, hubris definately played a role in their downfall. The designers definately had an air of invulnerablity around them - the same air that surrounds Blizzard, Square Enix, or Nintendo teams. These companies are known for willing and able to delay games for very long times (Despite Blizzard's repeated attempts, Final Fantasy XII currently holds the record for longest development time). However, these companies have earned their fans trust over multiple iterations - Mario can come out whenever Mario pleases...he's FRICKIN' MARIO - whereas 3dRealms only had that one big game to its name. More importantly, these companies had learned HOW to put out releases and focus its efforts. In other words, they learned discipline before they were cut loose. Not the case here, one game and old George thought they were untouchable.

They should've just released multiple games. They would've done just as well or better - the team would have something they could put out. And they could've built on success. Again, hubris was their downfall here.