It’s been months and months since Duke Nukem Forever was cancelled. I intend to exploit the internet’s short memory, and will say that is not old news because hardly anyone remembers it. That’s the cool thing about news. Once it passes over a certain point on the horizon, it’s fresh again.

I was a huge fan of Duke Nukem 3D. Most classic games either have great concepts or great content. But DN3D had both. Every other FPS game from the period looks boring. But as great as DN3D was, it will be forever by buried under the mountain of shame and failure generated by its sequel, Duke Nukem Forever. That game needs no introduction. It out-Daikatana’d Daikatana in the category of “vaporware”, which is French for “a game famous for not fucking existing.”

Here is an article revealing why DNF was never released even after 12 years of work. George Broussard screwed the pooch. He refused to stop adding new featues, he refused to call it a day, he treated his publisher like an enemy instead of a partner. But mostly it was money. Broussard was rich, and could afford to finance the game himself, thus giving him total control. This shouldn’t have been a problem, but he ended up proving himself unworthy of total control.

But I think there’s an important lesson here.

It’s a cliche to say this, but beople do perform best when they’re on the ropes and can’t afford to goof around. Seriously. The quality of Metallica’s albums can be graphed according to how much money they were making at the time. The Wachowskis blew up when they made the The Matrix…and that was the last good movie they made. Lou Reed became rich, and straight away released an album consisting of 60 minutes of guitar feedback. The stereotypical comedian who becomes a hit on the comedy circuit and gains 20 kilos and a amphetamine habit. It’s like the sudden easing off of pressure flips a switch in the entertainer’s head. “It’s okay, I’m set for life, I don’t have to work hard ever again.” I’m sure most of them would deny this…but since when does an idiot know he’s an idiot?

Maybe it’s the loss of a motivation to work. Of course you’d strive hard if you know your paycheck depended on how well you do. But once you’ve made it, and you know you’ll have a house and a car and a mistress no matter the quality of your work…well, I doubt that would take an artist to the next level.

Or maybe it’s just an illusion. Maybe poor entertainers are just as prone to self-delusion, but we don’t see them crashing and burning because they’re not famous.