For the consumer, a good, generally favorable reaqction from players would have justified the wait because, hey, there's other video games to play. Doesn't matter if its a year or 40, if it comes out and its fun, its worth buying.
Now, justified to the investors...that's a different story.
What would make sense for 12 years of development? A extensive amount of refinement, iteration, and tweaking of game play mechanics for a game where graphics are irrelevant. Or, if game design was done for 11 years, and graphics the last year. If all that time was spent painstakingly crafting mechanics, then it would justify the wait, at least from the perspective of a noble experiment. Of course, I don't see how Duke Nukem could be placed nedt to the words, "Noble Experiment".
Now, justified to the investors...that's a different story.
What would make sense for 12 years of development? A extensive amount of refinement, iteration, and tweaking of game play mechanics for a game where graphics are irrelevant. Or, if game design was done for 11 years, and graphics the last year. If all that time was spent painstakingly crafting mechanics, then it would justify the wait, at least from the perspective of a noble experiment. Of course, I don't see how Duke Nukem could be placed nedt to the words, "Noble Experiment".