Oops.

I recently learned that legendary vaporware factory 3D Realms has been the victim of corporate natural selection. Some commentators have expressed shock and disappointment. I, on the other hand, am surprised that house of cards didn’t collapse a long time ago.

A bit of explanation may be necessary for those that have real lives and don’t track the development cycles of nonexistent software. Duke Nukem Forever was meant to be the world-shattering new entry in the semi-satirical Duke Nukem series of games. In 1998.

Things went poorly.

Poorly being an understatement for twelve hilariously inept years of delays, revamps, and snide dismissal of all questions about release dates. A complete-looking trailer was released in 2001, so the logical course of action was, of course, to abandon everything and start from the ground up. Then abandon what you’d started up and begin again. Rinse, wash, repeat, and become the laughingstock of an entire industry.

Still, no matter how clear it became that the Duke was becoming the videogame equivalent of the Loch Ness monster, there were still holdouts. People with the type of unshakable optimism that allows them to vote in national elections and reserve media that shall never be.

3D Realms’ publisher, Take Two, didn’t share in that optimism.

I find it extremely interesting that people are surprised, yet alone angry, at Take Two for this decision. Contrary to the impression given by gaming magazines and comics (or television, if you hate yourself enough to watch G4), videogames are a business. And any business that fails to put out a product in over a decade shouldn’t be surprised by the results.

For a breakdown of the situation from someone that isn’t a sarcastic misanthrope, you might want to visit The Duke Nukem Forever List.