Gearbox boss explains Duke Nukem delay

By Fred Dutton Published 24 March, 2011

Pitchford denies marketing shenanigans.

After a 14 year wait, mythical shooter Duke Nuke Forever was finally set to hit shelves this May. Then this morning, via a cheeky video skit, new developer Gearbox announced yet another delay, pushing the game back to June.

A few wags cynically labeled the move as one final witty-but-cruel marketing push. Not so, says Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford – his team genuinely needs more time to add a final layer of polish to the game.

"No trick - we believed May when we announced it," Pitchford told Eurogamer.

"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."

He went on to hail the patience of Duke fans, promising that the delay was in their best interest.

"We are driven by fans who are as anxious for the game to finally be released as we are," he insisted. "The continued support of our fans does miracles for our morale and that drives quality and performance. It's for the fans that I am confident this slight schedule adjustment is the right thing to do.

"Thank you to Eurogamer and its readers for supporting Gearbox in this time of need while we work hard towards Duke's triumphant return."

Duke Nukem Forever now launches on 10th June for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360.

Probably.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Eraysor #1 1 year ago

    21st December 2012 is my prediction.
    Edited by Eraysor at 24/03/11 @ 22:29

  • GreyScale #2 1 year ago

    here we go again

  • BlinkeredAxis #3 1 year ago

    Apologies for the delay in posting to this thread. My post needed some last-minute polish.

  • Shikasama #4 1 year ago

    Who thought it was a marketing push?

    'Frank, I've had a great idea about that delayed, anticpated game we want to sell'

    'Well Dave, lets hear it'

    'How about...we don't sell it!'

    'By God Dave, you're a genius'.

  • insincere_dave #5 1 year ago

    I was gonna say you can't polish a turd, but after 14 years it's probably calcified enough to allow it to be successfully polished.

  • chaywa #6 1 year ago

    But 90s shooters were characterised with a lock of polish which made them so fun to play in the first place!!!

  • handsonhips101 #7 1 year ago

    Finish it and start on borderlands 2 please.

  • CaptainQuint #8 1 year ago

    As I said earlier: this is a propaganda conspiracy like that moon landing thingy. This game doesn't even exist. We're all being conditioned MK Ultra style, that's what it is. We're all being trained to be handsome chauvinistic killers.

  • carlosdfn #9 1 year ago

    The "probably" at the end of the article made me LOL. Hard.

  • EmiliasHorse #10 1 year ago

    Long since stopped caring.

  • zedzee #11 1 year ago

    A little longer to wait isn't bad (or surprising) - besides, gamers have waited 14 years for DNFE anyway!

    Besides, the way they've announced the delay in the ad is quite funny, contextual and tongue-in-cheeky.

    Sure hope that gamers don't expect a COD style or level of polish to a DN game - that's not the point of playing DNFE.

  • epiazk #12 1 year ago

    Ahhhh cheap as that stunt was I smiled :)

    Nostalgia, its nice to know some things never change.

  • Ryze #13 1 year ago

    It would only have released with a serious bug that required a patch. If they noticed, but didn't act then it would have harmed sales.

    If this thing reviews well, then I MUST BUY it ON PC!

    :D

  • ruddiger7 #14 1 year ago

    Oh well, ill be busy with LA noir that month anyway

  • Murton #15 1 year ago

    Usually when a producer uses the word "fans" when talking about something that those fans clearly won't support I feel a certain loss of respect for the producer in question, looking at Todd Howard here and his tendency to use the word when talking about DLC that up to half of the playerbase can't buy or defending his allowing the release of beta or even alpha level code as a fully finished AAA title.

    Randy Pitchford on the other hand, heads up perhaps the only studio in the world that is yet to release a game that has disappointed me, so I'm inclined to believe his intentions and give him the benefit of the doubt on this.

    Besides, May was looking a bit cramped with both Brink and Lego Pirates of the Caribbean being day one titles, DNF would probably have waited until June for me anyway so I'm not really losing anything.

  • Dave52 #16 1 year ago

    Duke Nukem, forever delayed....

  • homerramone #17 1 year ago

    Suits me just fine. After all this time if they release before its actually ready like the rest of the recent online games (im looking at you blops, homefront and TDU2) then it would be another nail in the coffin for online games IMHO.

    theres a fairly simple rule of them I think. If its not finished dont release it.

  • homerramone #18 1 year ago

    Suits me just fine. After all this time if they release before its actually ready like the rest of the recent online games (im looking at you blops, homefront and TDU2) then it would be another nail in the coffin for online games IMHO.

    theres a fairly simple rule of them I think. If its not finished dont release it.

  • Gizzle #19 1 year ago

    Randy you rascal, I cant stay mad at you...

  • rojjer #20 1 year ago

    and where's that Aliens vs Marines game? That was Gearbox at some point wasn't it?

  • Spekingur #21 1 year ago

    If this one gets released and is actually good and popular then I wonder what the next Duke Nukem will be called? :D

  • MyThirdLeg #22 1 year ago

    They keep talking about us waiting for this game for 14 years, I dont know if its just me, but i really havnt been waiting for this game neither will i buy it

  • DRUNK3N-_-DRAGON #23 1 year ago

    another 12 years and it should be fine!