Feb 15, 2011 08:30 GMT  ·  By

Duke Nukem Forever, the upcoming title originally developed by 3D Realms and now being polished up by Gearbox Software, will take somewhere between 16 and 18 hours to complete, as both development teams were committed to tell a very long story focusing on the famous character.

Duke Nukem Forever is one of the most infamous game development projects of all time, having been in the making for more than 12 years.

The project was seemingly scrapped back in 2009 and that seemed to be the end of it all, but Duke rose from the ashes and is nearing completion with the help of Gearbox Software.

However, don't go thinking the game will be just another short and immature first-person shooter, as Gearbox President Randy Pitchford talked with CVG and said that gamers would need around 16 to 18 hours to complete the single-player campaign.

"Average playtimes are more like 16, 18 hours. I know! It's like three or four Call Of Duties, right? I'm not kidding... The game will speak for itself. I love it."

Pitchford was then asked how the game can live up to the 12 year anticipation behind the whole Duke Nukem Forever project.

"I can't worry about that. I think if I did, I might fall into the same trap the 3D Realms guys did, where they wanted to keep redoing it and making things better."

"I'm not sure anything can live up to 12 years of anticipation. I'm committed to following through with their vision. If I commit to the expectation, we'll be doing it for another 12 years. I'm doing the responsible thing," he added.

Duke Nukem Forever is finally getting ready to be released later this year, on May 3, in North America, and May 6, in Europe, for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms.