As a fun alternative to the dark and gritty id Software titles in the mid-90s, Duke Nukem 3D quickly became a cult classic and demanded a sequel. Duke Nukem Forever was anticipated for a few years, but it became a laughingstock due to constant engine revamps which were always behind the current tech anyway. The graphical advancement of this generation of consoles essentially ceased. At this point, 3D Realms really didn't have an excuse to keep delaying production. The publisher, 2K Games, dumped 3D Realms and gave the project to Gearbox to complete. Nobody actually expected or wanted this game to be released, and featuring completely mediocre everything, it was by far the Blunder of 2011.