Why Stardock Sold Impulse to GameStop

Greg Tito

PR for Dungeons & Dragons
Sep 29, 2005
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Why Stardock Sold Impulse to GameStop

The CEO of Stardock needed his employees to work on software development, not business development.

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Apr 28, 2008
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It changed owners from one man(who actually cares about games) to some shareholders(who only care for profit).

That is what worries me.
 

Echo136

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Feb 22, 2010
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Hey, Stardock is located in Ann Arbor. Awesome :)

OT: I wonder how the Stardock customers are going to react to knowing that their games are distributed by Gamestop.
 

hansari

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May 31, 2009
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*Remembers Activision/Bizzare Creations

Prediction: Gamestop will have Stardock work on a mindless hack/slash, it won't do so well, studio shuts down within three years.
 

matrix3509

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Sep 24, 2008
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hansari said:
*Remembers Activision/Bizzare Creations

Prediction: Gamestop will have Stardock work on a mindless hack/slash, it won't do so well, studio shuts down within three years.
Just to clear things up, GameStop only owns Impulse not Stardock. GameStop has absolutely no control over what Stardock does.

OT: "Oh Noes! We are making lots of teh monies! Sell! Sell! Sell!" Honestly, selling the most profitable part of his company is about the stupidest business decision he's ever made. And don't give me bullshit about how he can't find enough talented people to work for him. I personally know dozens of people including me that would sell their own kidneys to get a job in the game industry.
 

DTWolfwood

Better than Vash!
Oct 20, 2009
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all i want to know is will Stardock release its titles on other DDPs if they don't run one anymore. I'd really love to be able to get Sins of a Solar Empire on steam so i don't have to have 2 different DD clients running in the background >.<

im not so completely jazzed about the game that i want to own a physical copy if the game however.
 

hansari

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matrix3509 said:
And don't give me bullshit about how he can't find enough talented people to work for him. I personally know dozens of people including me that would sell their own kidneys to get a job in the game industry.
Thanks for the correction, but now it is my turn to correct you!



For you see, the Stardock CEO is correct in that no one in there right mind will move to Michigan. The idea that a recent graduate with all his youth and inexperience would be willing to make such an unreasonable concession to "make it ahead"....bah, even in this economy a sane man would rather sacrafice his firstborn...
 

Callate

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Dec 5, 2008
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Nghr...

I rather like Stardock as a company, the Elemental debacle aside; this decision makes me very uncomfortable, because I can't say the same about Gamestop. I shop at Gamestop occasionally, in part because I have fewer and fewer other choices, and the individuals who work there are often fairly decent and knowledgeable people. But as a corporate entity, they're partially responsible for making PC gaming increasingly niche, and Kongregate has become a distinctly less enjoyable place to be since they took it over. Not to mention their influence on DLC, the used games market, "collector's editions", pre-orders, and so on. I don't know what they might plan for Impulse, but the idea doesn't fill me with sunshine and rainbows.

I wish they could have sold it to almost anyone else. Or found some other way to isolate a division they admit was profitable from the day-to-day functions of Stardock while keeping it under their oversight.
 

Sartan0

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Apr 5, 2010
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Brad is right about needing more then one party doing digital distribution of games for PC. Will see if the market gets smaller.

"I think [Bergquist's op-ed] says a lot more about GamersGate position than anything else," Wardell said.
A good reply. Bergquist sounds scared and sad he was not able to sell his company.
 

theultimateend

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Nov 1, 2007
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hansari said:
matrix3509 said:
And don't give me bullshit about how he can't find enough talented people to work for him. I personally know dozens of people including me that would sell their own kidneys to get a job in the game industry.
Thanks for the correction, but now it is my turn to correct you!



For you see, the Stardock CEO is correct in that no one in there right mind will move to Michigan. The idea that a recent graduate with all his youth and inexperience would be willing to make such an unreasonable concession to "make it ahead"....bah, even in this economy a sane man would rather sacrafice his firstborn...
I've been through Michigan before. It's a terrible place that you send people you hate. He makes valid points about convincing people to come.

"But we'd PAY you to come here?!"

"No."

":'(!"

Callate said:
Nghr...

I rather like Stardock as a company, the Elemental debacle aside; this decision makes me very uncomfortable, because I can't say the same about Gamestop. I shop at Gamestop occasionally, in part because I have fewer and fewer other choices, and the individuals who work there are often fairly decent and knowledgeable people. But as a corporate entity, they're partially responsible for making PC gaming increasingly niche, and Kongregate has become a distinctly less enjoyable place to be since they took it over. Not to mention their influence on DLC, the used games market, "collector's editions", pre-orders, and so on. I don't know what they might plan for Impulse, but the idea doesn't fill me with sunshine and rainbows.

I wish they could have sold it to almost anyone else. Or found some other way to isolate a division they admit was profitable from the day-to-day functions of Stardock while keeping it under their oversight.
Gamestop is the Michigan of game stores.
 

beefpelican

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Apr 15, 2009
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matrix3509 said:
"Oh Noes! We are making lots of teh monies! Sell! Sell! Sell!" Honestly, selling the most profitable part of his company is about the stupidest business decision he's ever made. And don't give me bullshit about how he can't find enough talented people to work for him. I personally know dozens of people including me that would sell their own kidneys to get a job in the game industry.
I bet he just realized that it would be hard for impulse to compete profitably with Steam, and figured he should quit while he's ahead and get a bit of a profit instead of trying to spend money on competing with Steam. Seems like a safe decision.
 

Raeil

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Nov 18, 2009
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This comes as no surprise to me, as a friend of mine (who actively uses Stardock's products) and I were discussing his rationale in selling Impulse and this was our conclusion based on the data available. It may not make good business sense from a "Profit-Profit-Profit" mindset, but if Impulse was growing outside of the scope of the parent company, it makes perfect sense to put it to good use by selling it to a company that has gaming retail as their business mission.
 

Dragonborne88

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Oct 26, 2009
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theultimateend said:
I've been through Michigan before. It's a terrible place that you send people you hate. He makes valid points about convincing people to come.

"But we'd PAY you to come here?!"

"No."

":'(!"
lol I've got a few friends that work with me from Michigan and the opinion is largely the same. I went to an event there once, it wasn't impressive, but it wasn't the hellhole wasteland that everybody says. That title belongs to the city across the river, Camden.

It saddens me that they sold it to GameStop of all places. But I'm also a bit biased. I very much dislike GameStop. Maybe they could have sold it to Valve!
 

Hungry Donner

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Mar 19, 2009
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I hadn't used Impulse before but I thought it was a good platform. I can't fault Stardock for selling it, is sounds like they a wise move on their part and it's nice to hear about a business that's honest about it's capabilities, but I don't like the idea of a GameStop run Stardock.

If GameStop is serious about PC support and working with the Indie market I'd like to see it before I believe it.
 
Apr 28, 2008
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Dragonborne88 said:
Valve already has Steam. And besides, if they bought it, they could be accused of buying out the competition, and monopolizing everything. Which is illegal.

Frankly, I'm surprised Bethesda(or Zenimax) didn't buy it, since they've been buying everything lately...
 

Dragonborne88

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Oct 26, 2009
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Irridium said:
Valve already has Steam. And besides, if they bought it, they could be accused of buying out the competition, and monopolizing everything. Which is illegal.

Frankly, I'm surprised Bethesda(or Zenimax) didn't buy it, since they've been buying everything lately...
Yeah, I know they already have STEAM. It was more a jest (or was it?). I wouldn't have cared if anyone but GameStop had bought it, to be honest. Amazon could have put it to good use, for example. :/
 

subtlefuge

Lord Cromulent
May 21, 2010
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I love Steam, but I also love competition so more of it is always good. I mean more money for GameStop can only mean that they will spread it around and offer great deals for customers, right?
 

Catalyst6

Dapper Fellow
Apr 21, 2010
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Well, it's good to see that some people still care about the software, eh?

On an aside, they're located in Ann Arbor? I live all of an hour and a half from there! ROAD TRIP! Grab your locking-picking tools, we're getting backstage passes!