Stardock Faces Layoffs Due to Poor Elemental Launch

[Jared]

That is a real shame for all involved...I hope those let go will find work elsewhere.

 

[EmeraldGreen]

Who is the company that owns Impulse anyway?

Stardock owns Impulse. So I don't think you're going to see any Stardock games on Steam any time soon, any more than you'll be seeing Valve games on Impulse. Unless Stardock decides to shut Impulse down, of course, and that seems unlikely; as non-Steam digital download platforms go, Impulse is pretty successful.

Edit: On topic, this is a real shame. It makes me want to go out and buy Elemental just to prove I trust Stardock to fix it. Can't really afford it, though.

 

[jp201]

The fact that I've never heard of this game is probably the problem.

pretty much this.

It's helpful for people to know your game exists for it to sell.

 

[Plurralbles]

Never heard of it. Perhaps THAT'S WHY!? Could it be that? maybe? Stardock is a great dev though. It saddens to see them hurting.

I really wish I had known about it.

 

[xerzewatt]

As a tbs lover (who still regularly plays civ 4 and homam 5) I also didn't heard of it before the release. And there is something really strange about the game, it is more diplomacy oriented than heroes but even if 2 nations are fighting, I never see any troops wandering around. Something gone really wrong in this development cycle.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

Tis a shame, Stardock goofed, but you hate to see Stardock suffer.

 

[Jadak]

Oh man, it's awful seeing all of this just because they didn't take their fucking time. I bet their development team is pretty pissed at the responsible person.

They did take their time, the problem was poor judgment and their deciding that the game wasn't just a flawed piece of crap.

 

[Jadak]

The fact that I've never heard of this game is probably the problem.

Because your product awareness is the deciding factor in all matters?

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

Its a shame but mabye they will learn double and triple check a games qaulity before launch... if not we will only have the likes of activision and EA to make us games.... and people are to stupid to stop buying in mass long enough to make them care.... *sigh*

 

[Chamzaboogie]

I heard about the game a week before launch, went to their forums on day launch and decided not to buy it after all.

If they fix issues (and if players' feedbcak is good), I will definitely go for it.

 

[Aurora219]

Hum. I've never heard of this game. That tells me it wasn't marketed very well, and this can't have helped it's launch.

 

[Jake Martinez]

Who is the company that owns Impulse anyway?

Stardock owns Impulse. So I don't think you're going to see any Stardock games on Steam any time soon, any more than you'll be seeing Valve games on Impulse. Unless Stardock decides to shut Impulse down, of course, and that seems unlikely; as non-Steam digital download platforms go, Impulse is pretty successful.

Edit: On topic, this is a real shame. It makes me want to go out and buy Elemental just to prove I trust Stardock to fix it. Can't really afford it, though.

I'm pretty sure he was being sarcastic mate. I mean, really, suggesting that Stardock can attribute it's own fail in part to trying to use it's own delivery platform for sales is about as sardonic as you can get given the situation.

 

[Flunk]

When did Stardock start making games? I thought they made that totally-unnecessary Window Blinds theming software.

 

[theshadavid]

The fact that I've never heard of this game is probably the problem.

Because your product awareness is the deciding factor in all matters?

No but if people haven't heard of your product then they aren't going to buy it.

 

[Sartan0]

And they have the extra money to blanket the airwaves from where?

They are an Indy developer as far as games go guys and with their anti-DRM stance they are certainly not getting any help from bigger developers. Cut them a bit of slack!

Though the funny thing is that they got a bunch of publicity out of this. If "Elemental" ends up being really good they might get more sales in the end then they would have if the launch had been quieter.

 

[laserwulf]

I was really excited about this game when it was announced, but after reading a couple reviews I'll be waiting for a bit while it's patched to a state that's worth paying money for.

I love ya for GalCiv2, Stardock, but it should be obvious that if you release a game that's buggy as hell (and lacking the multiplayer that's indicated ON THE BOX), it will get bad reviews and not sell well.