This is just painful. The new Stardock strategy game for PC, Elemental: War of Magic, is going through a rough time: its launch this week has been met with game-breaking bugs and crashes, much to the dissatisfaction of fans. But wait, the situation gets worse.
On the Quarter to Three forums, outspoken Stardock CEO Brad Wardell responded to criticism with the following post: "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."
Even worse, "The Gamer's Bill of Rights," which Wardell had a hand in creating, says "Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state." Of course, follow-up emails have since been sent. Joystiq got a statement from the CEO apologizing for his reaction to upset fans.
"I spoke hastily and said things I shouldn't have." Continuing: "I want to be clear that my comments on the Quarter to Three forums do not reflect my team at large. They were words spoken out of frustration and sleep deprivation and I am truly sorry."
Make sure to read the statement in full at Joystiq.
Elemental's disastrous launch: stay well away [PC Gamer]
Stardock CEO apologizes for lashing out over Elemental pre-launch criticisms [Joystiq]
Contest:
2:20 PM on 08.25.2010 | 
What's REALLY funny is the fanboys on their forums claiming anyone who says they have a crash is a troll. Good times
Well don't worry, Brad, I will have no trouble staying far away from your crummy titles.
It's unfortunate that Brad had to give these mopes attention by responding to their BS.
Stardock didn't produce Demigod they only published it, Gas Powered Games are the people that made Demigod. The last game Stardock made was Galactic Civilizations 2 and it was quite an excellent game too.
It's a shame Elemental has had a poor release, I didn't even know it was out already! Though I wonder if the game is any good as despite day 1 game breaking bugs a game still be excellent such as, y'know, every game released by DICE.
The game itself is awesome, it's really deep and really fun. I'm deffinitely glad I bought it, no doubt about it.
As for people saying Demigod is an indication of past wrongs, Stardock didn't make Demigod, Gas Powered Games did, so I'm not sure what pointt that makes. It's like saying Valve sucks because they sold some shitty game on Steam.
Then again, I've been in the beta since they opened it up last September, so I guess compared to the really bare bones early betas just about anything looks complete.
Also @Dr Pups
I think they did Sins of a Solar Empire between this and Galactic Civ II.
This just seems like one of those times where a developer rushes to get their game out to avoid having to announce a delay or something when it's not quite ready.
Negatory, Ironclad Games made Sins of a Solar Empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ironclad_Games
whooooaa. I never knew that. For some reason, I always thought that they had done Sins.
Well, that means they worked on Elemental for waaaay longer than I thought.
The pre-day 0 launch wouldn't run at all on my machine. So I deleted it.
The day 0 version is running fine.
I know for a fact at least 50 volunteer QA tests spent hundreds of hours testing the game prior to release but sadly one can account for everything. SD has been going none stop to correct problems found with the game played on systems in the wild.
The game is solid and the company backing it fully - you really cant ask for more to be frank.
Which.... you know.... makes the game work.