Stardock - Layoffs? [Updated]

Shack is reporting layoffs at Stardock, though I hasten to point out staffing realignments aren't uncommon when a project ships:

Shacknews has received an anonymous tip claiming that several employees of Stardock, developers of the recently released Elemental: War of Magic were let go today in a round of layoffs.
Those let go included developers, designers, and salespeople working on Elemental. The tipster, supposedly one of those laid off, claims that the layoffs were due to Elemental's "disastrous launch". Though post-launch layoffs are common in this industry, it sounds like these cuts were due to the game's launch and reception.

[Update] And it's true, according to Brad Wardell himself:

It is true.
Elemental's revenue was anticipated to provide the revenue both for our main games team's next project as well as a second team. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen so we've had to start laying people off.
No one is being fired. None of these people did anything wrong. Stardock is a small company and each person here is truly amongst the best and brightest. So you can imagine how much it sucks for all of us to lay off anyone. We haven't had to lay anyone off since our migration from the OS/2 market in 1998. It would be great if we can bring as many of these people back over time if the studio can afford it.
No one involved on the core components of Elemental is affected.
Elemental's rocky launch can be summed up (IMO) as follows: Our QA process was insufficient to handle a brand new platform (Elemental = Kumquat 1.0 versus say Galactic Civilizations II was using Pear which was the same engine, modified, from 1997's Entrepreneur) + my own catastrophic poor judgment in not objectively evaluating the core game play components.

More information.

Indeed, that sucks. I hope those affected will not be left out in the cold for long, and wish them the best of luck finding new positions.

I guess Elemental is somewhat unique in one respect, though: a remarkable number of people believe that this is a "gem in the rough", something that might at some point be a very good game if only patched up properly. Therefore I believe that they still have some chance of getting significant revenue from this, if they handle it properly and manage to fulfil these expectations.

Maybe they can even launch an "Elemental Enhanced Edition" including all the patches for those who did not buy the game yet, i.e. most likely the vast majority of potential buyers, which would obviously have to be for free for the beta-testers who spend money on the game already.

Well, anyway it would be stupid not to try this, so probably (I hope!) they will.

Edit: another thing that is probably important and relates to something I read here on the forums: that the battles are awfully random due to the large maximum damage points per hit relative to the full health points per hero. This sounds bad, and I hope they have the courage to significantly alter some aspects of the game people are unhappy about, and do not listen to the loud minority of fanboys who will indubitably tell them that everything is perfect as it is.

I too wish them the best of luck. Man, it sucks. I mean, I kow Elemental is an almost broken game, needing easily half a year more work. It is, IMVPO, indeeda gem in the rough. But at this moment it is too lacking. I have always had great sympathies for Stardock and Brad Wardell, and that doesn't change. He is an honest man, as you can see.

Wish them all the best. We need the small indie studios!

Originally Posted by elikal
Brad Wardell, and that doesn't change. He is an honest man, as you can see.

Got to disagree. I've been following this story a little, and his view seems to change every time he posts about the game's launch. It's really only recently he's been singing the "OK, we screwed up" tune. Unless I confused him with someone else on the Elemental team, of course.

My sympathies go to Stardock employees, too. I don't think it's fair or right for this to happen when it wasn't necessarily their fault. It's like blaming Obsidian for KotOR2 when LucasArts forced it out prematurely.

"No one involved on the core components of Elemental is affected."

They screwed up and somebody else gets laid off. Makes sense.

+ my own catastrophic poor judgment in not objectively evaluating the core game play components.

At least he's admitting his own fault. That's rare in the business. Imho he should get at least a minimum of respect for admitting this.

… only after telling people to f*.* off. This is simply damage control.

Hey, how many people in the business do you recall of admitting own mistakes anyway ? Search your memory.

I don't remember any.

Apart from devs, maybe.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
At least he's admitting his own fault. That's rare in the business. Imho he should get at least a minimum of respect for admitting this.

Yes, but is he doing anything about it? I mean, I have total respect for the guy, but if he is to fault for Elemental then he should stop being involved with it.

I don't mean to sound harsh, but I don't really care if he publicly admits he (and his company) is at fault. This is business, and in the end as a consumer/customer, I want results. That his company will fix Elemental, will make some difference, once it is done.

Granted Elemental is going to take X months to fix and perhaps even then, there is a risk it won't be the sort of game I envisaged it would be. I have to accept some fault for preordering a long time ago on faith.

It is sad that a bunch of people have lost their jobs, but they also knew what they were getting into. The gaming industry is highly volatile.

Elemental was easily my most anticipated game of the year (right after CivV); it has been marketed as a spiritual successor to Master of Magic (I think they even wanted to make an actual sequel/remake at first but couldn't obtain the rights or something). I was a hundred percent convinced it was going to be a terrific game. I mean, imagine: the fantastic gameplay of Master of Magic with a sleek interface and cute Cell-Shaded (I believe) graphics. That would have been brilliant, and there was not the shadow of a doubt in my mind that they would pull it off adequately.

Well, it turns out I couldn't have been more wrong. I can't remember being ever this disappointed with the end result of a project. The game is an absolute mess, even if somehow you make it past the daunting barrage of bugs and crashes (latest patch included). Contrary to the common opinion apparently held in the community, I disagree about this piece of software being a diamond in the rough; I didn't see the hint of a redeeming quality anywhere, just a poorly designed, shallow, charmless pseudo-Civilization-lite with a few (uninteresting) gimmicks. No amount of patching can turn a bad game into a good one, unless, as was suggested, they completely change the core mechanics thereof. Until then, I'll stick with Dominion 3 for my Civilization-with-magic needs. This game is an absolute disaster as it is (again, bugs notwithstanding)…

Having said that, it's too bad for the lay-offs, especially since, if I understood correctly, none of the people actually responsible for the game are concerned. Isn't that wrong?

Based on the reports of the release state, it's definitely not surprising. I had noticed several mentions of the company touting its self-funded status; furthermore indicating that this allowed them to sit on a release until it was absolutely completed. Well, the money has to come from <I>somewhere</I>, so unless the owner is sitting on billions, I can't imagine this argument holding water. There's always money pressure, no matter where the money comes from. Sad, but maybe they can give it another go in the future with a more realistic forecast.

Originally Posted by Dwagginz
Got to disagree. I've been following this story a little, and his view seems to change every time he posts about the game's launch. It's really only recently he's been singing the "OK, we screwed up" tune. Unless I confused him with someone else on the Elemental team, of course.

exactly what else was he supposed to say? my game is broken, don't buy it? that would be akin to the CB(S)G elling his script to hollywood then going online to rant "worst movie ever"

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
At least he's admitting his own fault. That's rare in the business. Imho he should get at least a minimum of respect for admitting this.

ditto

Originally Posted by Dwagginz
My sympathies go to Stardock employees, too. I don't think it's fair or right for this to happen when it wasn't necessarily their fault. It's like blaming Obsidian for KotOR2 when LucasArts forced it out prematurely.

Originally Posted by Elwro
… only after telling people to f*.* off. This is simply damage control.

And what else are they supposed to do? They are not bringing in any revenue so should they just issue them IOU's for the next year until business turned around? I suppose it worked for Herve Cain.

Originally Posted by Alrik Fassbauer
Hey, how many people in the business do you recall of admitting own mistakes anyway ? Search your memory.

I don't remember any.

Apart from devs, maybe.

Well recently Jack Emmert of Cryptic Studios has been admitting the mistakes of ST: O and Champions Online, and then backpeddling. I think most people (I took a quick poll) believe he's trying to disassociate the poor reception of those games with the upcoming Neverwinter. But, keep in mind, before Bethsoft launched Oblivion they said to the media they were well aware of the mistakes of Morrowind.

Another quote from Brad about the reasons for the lay offs:

Elemental's success doesn't impact whether Stardock will be doing new games or expansions to Elemental. It does, however, impact whether Stardock can afford to have a second games team. Our objective was to be able to develop two games at once. That goal will have to be postponed.

And some more:

Originally Posted by Solidsmooky from Stardock Forums
Wow, firing some of your employees while you're on vacation. Haha, thats cold as hell, man.

For the record (since I saw some rather disgusting comments on the Shack thread) the financial projections for Elemental occurred while I was out of town along with the projected budget revisions. Upon determining our initial course of action, I ended my vacation early — as my journal makes clear. It should also be emphasized that no one was fired. I've had to let go many people over the years and as anyone who has ever been in that position can tell you, there is a world of difference between terminating someone and laying them off.

Running a business is a difficult challenge. I've been doing it for almost 20 years now. Good decisions can create jobs and bad decisions can destroy jobs. Right now, my focus has to be to save as many jobs as possible over the coming weeks so that we can most effectively support our customers and remain a financially sound enterprise in the long-run.

Making sure Elemental becomes the outstanding game it has the potential to be isn't just a matter of principle or ethics but of sound business. Loyal customers are the bedrock of any small company. You do not abandon them. Ever.

Brad also stated that the First expansion pack will be free to all registered gamers.

Wow. Y'all are a pretty jaded crowd. I've been playing and enjoying myself thoroughly. I dunno if it requires 20-40-60 hours before I begin to see flaws in the gameplay but right now it's got a nice mix of Civ, HoMM tactical, and RPG features. No performance issues to speak of (just bought it online post 1.07) though I don't diminish someone with different hardware forced to wear sackcloth and ashes right now.

I'm kind of flummoxed actually by the schadenfreude aimed at Brad. It doesn't look like that bad a game. Better than a small Pirates! title. Not as good as Sins. Could be better than Gal Civ given development time.

I'll add that maybe it has to do with gaming time. I've been pretty much limited to Plants and Zombies lately (great game btw, just can't get to that 15 streak on the vase level) due to other projects on my plate. Tried to get into both Dragon Age and Mass Effect and both never quite grabbed me though I finished the latter. This one's just sucking me in for some reason. <shrug> Wiles of the gaming world I guess.

For more information about his attitude, read the ending of this post:

http://www.quartertothree.com/game-t…postcount=2431

"Also, to anyone, like you Ben, saying the game is like an "early beta" then well, please stay away from our games in the future. I consider it ready for release and if others disagree, don't buy our games."

We finally know: a failed launch can change the nature of a man

While I was at the front page I noticed a rather funny thing. The most recent post was this one and the one right under was the newsbit with the interview Bernd Beyreuther saying that Radon Labs went under due to too few sales for Drakensang: River of Time despite good reviews. I've read some bad posts about that game, but that's neither here no there. I just found it funny that one catastrophic decision by Stardock and they're not closing up shop and calling it quits, but Radeon just couldn't survive ONE expansion release that didn't sell well. Contrary to what some other people have said about Brad and Stardock, that tells me they at least know how to weather storms like this one. People will get laid off, their marketing brand will take a hit in the consumers eye, but they are still sticking with Elemental.

I know there is a big difference between Stardock and Radeon, but there it is anyways. Stardock takes a huge hit after releasing an unfinished game, but keeps right on trucking (hopefully). Some people will need to be laid off, but time is the great healer in everything. If they can fix this game maybe their brand name will be restored to what it once was. I look at Jowood a lot differently now that they fixed Gothic 3 (or rather the community fixed it with their blessing ). If Brad does exactly what he said they are going to do then a year or more likely 3 years down the road this will be over with.

I like stardock and buy through impulse whenever I can, but even I with my rose tinted glasses on couldn't have fun with this game and that is all that matters to me. Not if it's realtime/turnbased, RPG, Action, FPS, Adventure, hell I don't even care if there are a few bugs in the game that will be patched later. I always find ways around them somehow. I only care if it's fun, unfortunately this game is not that. Sure during the new and shiny parts of the game I enjoyed it, but after two days of really playing this thing even I had to say BULLSHIT on this one or more accurately, I'm bored……

Unlike others I do see the potential for this game. They'll have to basically rework the whole thing from the ground up by putting in a different combat system, better ai, skill tweaking, race…..well you guys know what needs to be fixed. If they did that and realesed it in another 6 months or so, then screw it. I'm a beta tester What the hell, it's not like we haven't been screwed over before with games like Dungeon Lords or *burrr*Mistmare*burr* Those freaken jerks didn't say anything like Brad and they left us with what they released. Technically Dungeon Lords made you buy ANOTHER game to get the almost finished product, but you had to buy it again.

Yes, developers/publishers are going to screw up. It's human nature after all, but he seems to be going about this the right way. Staying in contact with the community, I believe people are getting refunds if they want them and promising to keep the project alive until it's truly finished.

Well that's my take on this. I'm not happy about it, but what the hell, I've been playing games for longer than I can remember now and this is one of the few times I've seen a company admitting their mistakes and trying to fix them. I'm still waiting for an apology from EA for Ultima IX and a promise to fix that mess. I think I'll be waiting a very long time for that.

Originally Posted by Elwro
We finally know: a failed launch can change the nature of a man

Yes, it can. Failure is the best teacher in the world and let's hope he learned something from this.