Well thing is that the publisher (Take 2) had no say whatsoever about DNF's development, since they hadn't paid a dime for the project ever, and DNF was funded entirely by 3D Realms themselves, Take 2 had no right to tell them to push it out faster... The game was also not literally under development in 12 years, it's more like it was announced 12 years ago, but created and remade for very good reasons throuhout the time... Basicly, the current build is no older than about 3 years... If anything, it's amazing the game wasn't cancelled years ago, it should rather be praised for hanging on for so long than being hated for being known but not released...
Anyways, i wonder what happens with the title now, the name "Duke Nukem" is still huge (several people are willing to pay millions to own the IP, it's about as big as the name "Doom"), and it would be a waste not releasing a major game of him at all, especially seeing the upcoming release of the Duke Nukem Trilogy for the two handheld consoles... It's simply not enough, or imo even the right thing to do, to feed the fanbase with half-good games with Duke in it, when there's one game in particular that kept them awake and aware of Duke's existance to begin with (That game obviously being DNF)...
Here's hoping (since 3D Realms stil exists on paper) that the company's other IP's will gain them some good money to restart and continue development on DNF... (They have Earth No More and Prey 2 done by other studios atm, which will give them some cash as well sine they own the IP) But thing is, they lack developers, they've all been "let go" now, and probably already have found other jobs by the time 3DR's has gathered enough money to start up again...
I'll miss the old timers there, Allen Blum was my favorite level Designer since Duke3D
So yeah, it's just too ridiculous not to release the game, it's right there, it WILL make money, it's almost done, and it'll be a money making machine... Who could possibly say no to that ..?