News

Stardock giving Elemental: Fallen Enchantress away for free
Posted: 29.10.2012 15:01 by JonahFalcon Comments: 12
Stardock's CEO Brad Wardell has announced that Elemental: Fallen Enchantress will be given away for free, as restitution for the buggy release of the original Elemental: War of Magic.


In a letter sent to customers, Wardell wrote:

Dear Stardock customer,

My name is Brad Wardell. I'm the President & CEO of Stardock. Two years ago, you bought a game from us called Elemental: War of Magic. We had great hopes and ambitions for that game but, in the end, it just wasn't a very good game.

Elemental was an expensive game. You probably paid $50 or more for it. And you trusted us to deliver to you a good game. $50 is a lot of money and companies have a moral obligation to deliver what they say they're going to deliver and frankly, Stardock failed to deliver the game we said we were going to deliver.

While we did update Elemental: War of Magic (you can still download v1.4). Its design just wasn't adequate to make it into the kind of game it should be. So we decided to start over. From scratch. We made a new game called Fallen Enchantress.

So even though it's been two years, we haven't forgotten about you. This week, we released Fallen Enchantress. It is a vastly better game and, we believe, lives up to the expectations set for the original Elemental. This game is yours. Free. It's already been added to your account.

You can download and play it by going to http://download.stardock.com.

We hope you enjoy Fallen Enchantress. Please feel free to visit the Elemental forum at www.elementalgame.com if you wish to talk to me and the rest of the team. We're there and very interested in your feedback.

Thank you for being our customers and your patience.

Sincerely,

Brad Wardell
President & CEO

Earlier this year, the publisher promised to give away a free game due to Elemental's bugginess.

It's also interesting in light of the recent lawsuit exchange between Stardock and former employee Alexandra Miseta. Miseta filed a sexual harrassment suit over Wardell's vulgar behavior, while Stardock filed a counter-suit at her destroying Elemental-related PR materials and data.

Elemental: Fallen Enchantress was released on the 23rd October.

Comments

By Chosen_One (SI Elite) on Oct 29, 2012
Chosen_One
Thats nice to know, that someone in industry cares.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 29, 2012
herodotus
Thank you. Stardock is one of the few decent Publishers left. I'll go check my account now:)
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 30, 2012
herodotus
Well, I don't see it available anywhere and there is no news of it on the site. As for the download link - Error 404.
By seabourne (I just got here) on Oct 30, 2012
seabourne
Go to your Stardock account and download. Great game.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Oct 30, 2012
nocutius
Exactly the way things should be in the cases of releasing what was basically crap. Very nice to see that some are in it for the long haul and care about their relationship with their customers.

This had the potential to really hurt them long term but they solved the issue the right way, in favor of their customers. Go Stardock.
By beatemup (I just got here) on Oct 30, 2012
beatemup
Microsoft Y U No do like Stardock?
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Oct 31, 2012
herodotus
Went to my account - nothing there except what I have already ordered from them. Where is it hidden?
By Chosen_One (SI Elite) on Nov 01, 2012
Chosen_One
Hero, maybe you should contact with support?
By Bloodastral (I just got here) on Nov 01, 2012
Bloodastral
Pile of crap they are giving it away for free. I bought Elemental from Stardock and with discount they still want $29.99 for Fallen Enchantress.
By nocutius (SI Elite) on Nov 01, 2012
nocutius
Maybe there are some conditions to the deal, like date of purchase?

When you think about it people only got screwed if they bought it early, later there were all the reviews that allowed people to make a rational decision for themselves.
By KublaKhan (SI Newbie) on Nov 02, 2012
KublaKhan
I got it for free but I don't know if date of purchase has anything to do with it, I bought the original from Impulse ages ago. I just had to go through the game site (http://www.elementalgame.com/fallen-enchantress/purchase), press 'Check Upgrade Price' and log in with my Stardock credentials. The game was then added to my account free of charge.
By herodotus (SI Herodotus) on Nov 02, 2012
herodotus
Yes, you need to have purchsed the original game to get this for free. Bit of a furfy, but good for those that have bought it. For me it's $40, and that I will not pay.