News

Stardock giving away new game for free - "we feel we owe our audience"
Posted: 30.03.2012 12:30 by Simon Priest Comments: 3
CEO Brad Wardell of Stardock Games has explained his studio's plan for the new Elemental title, Fallen Enchantress It's "name is tarnished" he admits, because the original was a "mediocre game."

The Galactic Civilizations developer knows they dropped the ball with War of Magic in 2010, and Wardell feels so strongly about this he's offering either a discount on Fallen Enchantress, or a free copy depending on when you bought the game.

The best method for the PC developer to make it up to fans though is to throw everything behind this new game. "From a business perspective, what we're doing is really dumb," admitted the Stardock boss. "For starters, the Elemental name is tarnished because War of Magic was a mediocre game. So why make an excellent game that has that baggage?"

"The reason is that I feel there's a principle involved. Stardock makes good games. I know people don't like Metacritic, but our averaged Metacritic score is one of the highest in the industry, and we put out what was arguably a stinker, and so we have a duty to our fans to make good on that."

Wardell recognises it's got quite the battle to prove Elemental isn't a toxic series given the reception of the first game. Tanking an IP with its very first instalment is super bad news for a developer.

"Even though we're going to take a black eye in terms of the inevitable comparisons, it's really about those people who trusted us to make an outstanding fantasy game -- we're going to deliver that to them," he said.

Such is the responsibility they feel they have to fans for disappointing them that Elemental: Fallen Enchantress will be free for anyone who bought War of Magic in 2010, and discounted if you bought it any time afterwards. Fan support saved Stardock in the 1990s.

The developer had to switch over from OS/2 to Windows in those crazy days and they weren't prepared. "We had to switch to Windows, and it would take about two years to make new stuff. We only survived because we told people what we were going to put out, and people pre-ordered it sight-unseen because they trusted us."

"That's the only reason we survived that transition," he recounts. "Because of that, we feel we owe our audience, we owe them the assurance that if they give us their hard-earned money, then we owe them a really good product. We've all worked hard for our great reputation, and this is our chance to make good on that."

Were you left crushingly disappointed with Stardock's Elemental: War of Magic, videogamer?

Source: Gamasutra

Comments

By PeaceMack (I just got here) on Apr 01, 2012
PeaceMack
I was one of the people who purchased the Elemental: War of Magic collector's edition. And while I still have the little pewter dragon that came with it sitting by my monitor, I had a lot of problems with the game.

However, Brad's response to the problems was nothing short of amazing. He acknowledge the problems in what had to have been a somewhat embarrassing public post mortem of the project. He put processes in place to make sure that the same type of problem doesn't resurface. He patched up the game, and hired two big names in the TBS genre to work on Fallen Enchantress.

I own several Stardock games. And while I can honestly say that I was disappointed in the initial release of War of Magic, my respect for Stardock has never been higher at this point.
By joasoze (I just got here) on Apr 01, 2012
joasoze
First game was a massive fail. I am in the beta of FE now, and its really shaping up to be a great game. All units (also the ones in the wild) will level up, there are lots of cool equipment, the AI is fast improving and I play the game for fun more than for bughunting. Looks like a winner for me.
By seanw3 (I just got here) on Apr 02, 2012
seanw3
I was of the minority that had no technical problems on release of WoM. The game left much to be desired and suddenly there was a panic like when I preordered C&C4 (got the MA rating for screwing its customers so hard). The worry was ill-founded though with Stardock. Much the same as GalCiv1, we got a promise of a better game with patches. Then they promised us a free sequel. Then they promised us a free expansion to the sequel. I definitely got my money's worth. Especially since IMO, WoM 1.4 is a fun game.

One thing alot of people should think about is how moddable the engine is for this game. It was a moot point with the low number of people playing WoM, but FE will almost certainly do great. The modders out there will be pleasantly surprised with the scope of modding. That kind of forethought will lend to decades of replayability, much like MoM.