In July of last year, developer and publishing house Stardock
acquired the rights to the highly celebrated but long-dormant
Star Control franchise. The company announced plans for a new
Star Control title that would be heavily inspired by the franchise's most famous entry,
Star Control 2.
That set the bar mighty high.
Forum postings from Stardock CEO Brad Wardell seemed to indicate that Stardock was going to produce not a continuation of the
Star Control story, but rather a reboot or prequel. Legions of the game's fans (including this author) were eager for more information on the shape of
Star Control to come as Stardock settled down into the early development stages.
When the story broke back in July, Ars approached Wardell directly for an interview. At the time, because the rights had just been acquired and planning for the new title had only just begun, Wardell didn't have a lot of information to share. Six months have passed since then, and the developers of the new
Star Control have been very, very busy. Ars caught up with Wardell via e-mail and then over Skype, and he was happy to tease us with some new information about the title.
Talking with Wardell about
Star Control was great because it quickly became clear that he loves the series just as much as I do—he even made jokes about frungy (which, as any
Star Control fan can tell you, is the sport of kings). Moreover, it's clear that he's
actually excited about being able to rescue the franchise from the dusty back catalog and pump new life into it. He's a fan who understands the series, and that will be the main thing that keeps the new title from veering off a cliff like
past development efforts.
