Illustration: Olly Moss

To videogame fans, that logo is instantly recognizable. It’s the insignia of Duke Nukem 3D, a computer game that revolutionized shoot-’em-up virtual violence in 1996. Featuring a swaggering, steroidal, wisecracking hero, Duke Nukem 3D became one of the top-selling videogames ever, making its creators very wealthy and leaving fans absolutely delirious for a sequel. The team quickly began work on that sequel, Duke Nukem Forever, and it became one of the most hotly anticipated games of all time.

It was never completed. Screenshots and video snippets would leak out every few years, each time whipping fans into a lather — and each time, the game would recede from view. Normally, videogames take two to four years to build; five years is considered worryingly long. But the Duke Nukem Forever team worked for 12 years straight. As one patient fan pointed out, when development on Duke Nukem Forever started, most computers were still using Windows 95, Pixar had made only one movie — Toy Story — and Xbox did not yet exist.

On May 6, 2009, everything ended. Drained of funds after so many years of work, the game’s developer, 3D Realms, told its employees to collect their stuff and put it in boxes. The next week, the company was sued for millions by its publisher for failing to finish the sequel.

The most eagerly awaited software title of all time. 12 years and 20 million dollars. Great story and a reminder to us all. Every project, even our personal pet projects, need some type of line drawn in the sand for list of features, last date of development, whatever. You have to SHIP IT.

Some of the best comments:

"If the company had any owner/manager with any discipline heading the game, they could have released a Duke Nuke’Em for every game engine they shifted to: 1) Quake 2, 2) Unreal, 3) Unreal 2, 4) Unreal 3 or Valve’s Source Engine. And instead of losing 20 million dollars, they would have made hundreds of millions."

"Ah, George, you big idiot. You guys could have released ANYTHING and the rabid fans would eat it up."

"Perfect is the enemy of good."