The Duke Nukem franchise is slowly coming to life again. Why now?

The King still lives! The Duke Nukem PR machine is slowly grinding to life again. But nobody knows why. Duke Nukem may be known for his foul mouth and way with the ladies, but the franchise is only known for the 15 year development cycle that resulted in the disaster that was Duke Nukem Forever. The original Duke Nukem 3D was released in 1996, a year after Doom, and it became an overnight sensation and developed its own cult following. A sequel, Duke Nukem Forever,  was announced in 1997, but owing to various issues, financial and otherwise, the game wasn’t actually released till 2011, a full 15 years later. The game was a disaster. There are some titles that can be considered so bad that they’re actually funny, Duke Nukem Forever was the worst kind of disaster in that it was just plain bland. We didn’t hear anything about the franchise or the game since then. Now, about 4 years since the release of Duke Nukem Forever, we see some King coming back to life. Slowly. The game’s official website now has a banner saying “Happy 20th Anniversary” and there’s a countdown timer counting down to 2 September. It’s probably not a coincidence that Gearbox, the developers and owners of the Duke Nukem property, are set to hold a panel at PAX West on that day. Duke’s Facebook page also came alive, publishing its first post since 2012, and the King now has a Twitter account. Nobody’s sure what to expect from the announcement, but speculations range from a remake of the original Duke Nukem 3D to news of a sequel. If it’s a sequel that’s planned, I certainly hope that it won’t be 2030 by the time we actually get to play it.