Duke nukem forever didn’t tarnish the older games IMO. Because the games barely have any story to begin with, they are mostly ranked for their gameplay, which is still awesome to this day. At least for 2 and 3d.
Duke1 is nothing too special. But Duke1 wasn’t even too special at time of release.
Most economies did. But it can’t be sustainable, because like in the rest of the world the wallets are all being drained because of basic expenses like food and housing. Every company, and shareholder, only wants the number to go up. But inflation will kick their source of income in the butt eventually when people can only afford their most basic needs, if even that.