"Catastrophic" Elemental Launch Results in Layoffs at Stardock
'Poor judgement' led to buggy release.
PC developer Stardock has had to cancel a future project as well as layoff an undisclosed number of employees, following the "catastrophic poor judgement" in launching its latest title, Elemental.
Reviewers haven't taken kindly to the fantasy strategy game, complaining of a buggy release. Stardock CEO Brad Wardell (known on the studio's forums as Frogboy) accepted the criticism and said that his close involvement with the game allowed him to become "blinded" to its flaws.
"The issue here is far far worse than many of you think it is. I wish it was an issue of the game being released too early. That's an easy thing for a company to 'fix,'" Wardell explained. "Elemental's launch is the result of catastrophic poor judgment on my part. I was in love with the world and the game and lost my impartiality."
The funding for expansion and a new project was riding on the success of Elemental - as a result of the "rocky launch" Wardell writes that he has no choice but to "start laying people off".
"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," he said in response to rumours of the redundancies, adding that he hopes to re-hire those lost when the studio manages to earn some more money.
Reviewers haven't taken kindly to the fantasy strategy game, complaining of a buggy release. Stardock CEO Brad Wardell (known on the studio's forums as Frogboy) accepted the criticism and said that his close involvement with the game allowed him to become "blinded" to its flaws.
"The issue here is far far worse than many of you think it is. I wish it was an issue of the game being released too early. That's an easy thing for a company to 'fix,'" Wardell explained. "Elemental's launch is the result of catastrophic poor judgment on my part. I was in love with the world and the game and lost my impartiality."
The funding for expansion and a new project was riding on the success of Elemental - as a result of the "rocky launch" Wardell writes that he has no choice but to "start laying people off".
"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," he said in response to rumours of the redundancies, adding that he hopes to re-hire those lost when the studio manages to earn some more money.
Companies:
Stardock
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