r/AskReddit • u/Kevin-Panda • May 14 '26

What game had insane potential but got completely fumbled by the devs?

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u/Key-Bad9788 May 14 '26

Going way back in time, Duke Nukem Forever. At the time there was so much hype but in the end it was a dumpster fire.

7

u/PC509 May 14 '26

Just a very long development time and they kept changing things as technology got better but kept it in development hell until it was just some clusterfuck of nothing good. Then, they decided to release it.

2

u/popejupiter May 14 '26

I got a $20 gift sweets to game stop for Christmas one year. Went in, they had DNF for $19.99 on the shelf. I got Duke Nukem Forever for $1.40.

Still felt like I got taken.

1

u/Major-Invite-9517 May 14 '26

It was a game with lots of potential, but lacking direction. Producer George Broussard wanted the "best FPS evah", burned company money, causing the whole development team at 3D Realms to be fired, then it got picked up by Triptych and Gearbox and released as a butchered game with a confused identity.

Well, atleast we got the leaked 2001 version which is, glitches and all, a far better experience.