Take-Two: Duke Nukem Forever Was Profitable

[CheckD3]

Even after hearing the criticism I thought I'd be able to actually find some enjoyment in it...it's so far the first game I have bought new and thought "this actually really sucks" and such...I'm ashamed to have actually helped MAKE them money on a mediocre game...

 

[Laser Priest]

Well, that's unfortunate.

Let's hope they don't take that to mean "Make more games like this!"

 

[thirion1850]

Good job humanity.

 

[AdumbroDeus]

So this...thing made money while awesome lesser known titles like Psychonauts and Child of Eden sit on the back shelf *twitch* *twitch* I don't understand anything anymore...

Exactly what I was thinking.

So this...thing made money while awesome lesser known titles like Psychonauts and Child of Eden sit on the back shelf *twitch* *twitch* I don't understand anything anymore...

you forgot this:

but yes no one really remembers the good ones.(does apply to almost everything i.e. mao zedong, contergan..........well you get the idea)

See, I was thinking of a slightly different scene.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=im-FCp9N-fg

 

[Mangue Surfer]

Because it's an archaeological artifact. People are buying by curiosity. Now make a sequel with the same quality and see how the sales go.

 

[thiosk]

They'll make a sequel where the duke was only playing DNF within an arcade machine in which he played DNF on an arcade machine.
I think they could ressurect the charachter and do an actual sequel. I think duke nukem would have been a great match as the protagonist of bulletstorm. Seems like a bulletstorm mod is pretty much what the duke should be doing.

Child of Eden

A Kinect-only title, right? I guess Move as well...

Simply suffered the same fate as some of the excellent Wii titles; marred by a combination of lackluster marketing and niche audience. No one I know who owns an XBOX also own the kinect, same with ps3.

edit, nope its compatible with regular controllers too. Was certainly not a detail I got out of the game coverage.

 

[Beertaster]

LOL no one understands marketing here. If customer's don't know that a good game is out there then that game won't earn money. If you remember prior to DNF's release there were huge advertizements made on television to promote the game. Its just like the Smurf, its a sack of shit but, because of a giant advertizing campaign the movie shepherd the mainstream audience like lemmings to them. I'm sorry to say this but an amount of a games success depeds on being able to use ads to reach the audience and tell them that the game is there to play. (most people will not inform temselves of anything and will remain ignorant of everything unless forcibly told, in a marketing hailstorm)

 

[JediMB]

Not a surprise.

Now hopefully they'll go ahead and craft a game that isn't made from the decomposing corpse of 3D Realms.

 

[AdumbroDeus]

LOL no one understands marketing here. If customer's don't know that a good game is out there then that game won't earn money. If you remember prior to DNF's release there were huge advertizements made on television to promote the game. Its just like the Smurf, its a sack of shit but, because of a giant advertizing campaign the movie shepherd the mainstream audience like lemmings to them. I'm sorry to say this but an amount of a games success depeds on being able to use ads to reach the audience and tell them that the game is there to play. (most people will not inform temselves of anything and will remain ignorant of everything unless forcibly told, in a marketing hailstorm)

That's not necessarily true.

We're only lamenting how quality games are grossly ignored while their horrible cousins are purchased em masse, not necessarily why.


Also, it wasn't JUST advertising. A lot is due to the fact that the game had substantial word of mouth due to being famous vapourware.

 

[Tom Phoenix]

The fact that this game was profitable for Take-Two means very little in the grand scheme of things. Duke Nukem Forever has still done irrecoverable damage to the brand and any future games that try to cash in on it will be disastrous flops.

From now on, you can always count on Duke.....being dead.

 

[Callate]

Le shrug. This might even be a good thing- so many teams get ripped to pieces when their games fail to perform that they never have a chance to take the criticism they received into account in making their next game. It's pretty clear that with regard to DNF, at least from a gameplay standpoint, the critics got heard loud and clear.

Whether they can make the character relevant and enjoyable in the twenty-first century remains to be seen.

 

[ReiverCorrupter]

Good, TakeTwo. You got lucky. Now do it right this time. No more making 3-5 different games and trying to frappe them together into indigestible goop. Here's [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/1968-Viewers-Choice-Duke-Nukem-Forever] a few suggestions [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/3581-Duke-Nukem-Forever-for-real-this-time].

Imagine what a proper Duke Nukem sequel could do for you.

I don't see what all the whining is about. No game developed over that period of time is going to come out good. I rented it and it provided a fun experience despite the horrendous gameplay, just because of the ridiculously childish humor. The important thing is that they got it out so that they can make a well polished sequel that doesn't suck with a new engine. The main problem I had with it was that it was ported terribly to the Xbox and every time I tried to aim at something the game seemed to snicker at me disapprovingly for not using a mouse. Especially the octobrains. Those things can go fuck themselves.

 

[ArchAngelKira]

Maybe they'll make a better Duke. Oh Serious Sam get a remake and takes the glory

 

[Imp_Emissary]

So this...thing made money while awesome lesser known titles like Psychonauts and Child of Eden sit on the back shelf *twitch* *twitch* I don't understand anything anymore...

Didn't you get the memo? Popular games sell, not good ones.

*cries in corner*

Fuck you Black Ops! FUCK YOU!!! >_<

OP: It was successful because it sold alot of copies before people realized it is shit.
Its probably the most returned game of the year...

So Duke will be getting The Most Returned Game of The Year Award? Well, that's just two words off of what he wanted, and apparently close enough to good is more than what Duke will settle for nowadays.

 

[Mikeyfell]

Hey. You know what? I'm happy for them.

Use that money to make a decent game now.

 

[CronoT]

The game was in development hell for over a decade, and there was STILL a rabid fanbase for it.

It could have been 90 minutes of Duke saying over and over "You just spent $60 on nothing! Now suck my c***!", and those people would have still bought it.

As for people like me, it's nice to get a game that isn't a half-baked Halo clone for an FPS game. The humor, however crass and inappropriate at times, was one of the things that made the game.

 

[Inkidu]

So this...thing made money while awesome lesser known titles like Psychonauts and Child of Eden sit on the back shelf *twitch* *twitch* I don't understand anything anymore...

Think of it this way. They probably paid jack shit to get the IP and finish it up. Therefor, even a tiny amount of sales probably paid it off and made it profitable for them.

Good point. Once people have paid, played, and returned that's still profit in the bank.

However, I imagine they got it so cheap they could have come out in the red on sales and still made a profit.

When I saw this my knee-jerk reaction was, "Take Two is lying." I can't believe it would be true.

 

[Weaver]

I feel like I'm the only one who actually had fun with the game.

 

[Sixties Spidey]

It was to be expected. I'd go as far as to say that it was a MASSIVE mistake for games like Child of Eden and Shadows of the Damned to come out *right* next to a game like DNF, whose main selling point was "Massive Trainwreck of a Game." That being said, I do think that DNF is fun, and I'm gonna wait out Child of Eden until I get a Kinect, and Shadows of the Damned until they release a demo or I borrow it from a friend or something.

 

[Drakmeire]

I'm kind of happy that this is the case. Forever was a terrible game that made me feel empty inside but the Duke has potentiality and I'm sure if the series was given a total revamp by gearbox with pumped up goofiness, satire, nostalgia, and self-awareness; it might be something truly great.
I'm hoping that a sequel let's the king live up to the glory that has been untapped for so long.