Longest Development Cycle

[Flabio]

Just wondering if anyone knows what game has the record for longest development cycle?

I seem to remember 'Damocles: Mercenary 2' being quite tormented, but I forget exactly how long that went for...

[Mayhem]

I'd probably say Duke Nukem: Whenever is leading the race... but of course only wins it once it gets released.

[Koffdrop]

I think Black and White took the best part of four years or so.

Whether it was torment or whether it was Molyneaux indulging in splashing EA's cash around his new offices is open to question though..

Half Life 2 could be getting quite lengthy if, as they claim, they started work on it shortly after the original Half Life.

[Flabio]

Daikatana was 5 years wasn't it?

[lordcookie]

IIRC work started on Duke Nukem Forever in 1997 and I think the current release date is 2005. Assuming it gets released then (if at all) then it would be 8 years which must be up there as the longest development cycle.

[Ginza]

Id say its either Duke Nukem : Whatever, Whenever or Galleon.

[probeater]

How long was halo in development, I remember it being hyped up as a game that I would be able to play on my original bondi blue imac Theres also some screenshots of a slightly different looking warthog on the back of my voodoo5 box.

[Junko]

Erm hasnt Galleon beein in development for something like 6 years ?

[Blu3Flame]

Heart of Darkness for the PC took five years to develop The sad thing was when they actually got around to releasing it the 2D Platform genre had moved on.

As for Duke Nukem Forever I think the only form of that we will ever see is the beta from 98/99.

[TEZBEK]

Nintendo claimed Yoshis Island took 5 years to make... not sure if its just hype.

[MD]

In fact the longest developement cycle from concept to finished product was 21 years. The machine was the Magnavox Odyssey and this was the time that Ralph Baer took the machine from a concept (many years before William Higginbottoms Tennis for Two physics demo) to a finished marketed product. ^_^;

Although give it time and I'm sure Galleon (which I believe has been in the making for around 9 years from basic concept....) will surpass that, 'It's going to be a Nintendo Playagamicom release title...' says a spritely 67 year old Toby Gard...