UPDATE: the consequences referred to below have begun. A round a layoffs at Stardock, alongside the termination of an upcoming (unannounced) game project, may just be the beginning.
UPDATE UPDATE: Mr. Wardell has posted a “final” remark on the Elemental flap here at the Elemental forums. One of the things I appreciate most from him on this one is that he recognizes how hard it can be for journalists to harshly criticize a game created by developers they consider friends. But it has to be done sometimes.
For those who’ve followed the 24-hour firestorm that erupted in the wake of Elemental: War of Magic’s botched Day Zero release, you’ll know that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stranger.
Stardock CEO Brad Wardell, initially condemned for what later turned out to be (to his great credit) an exhausted, awake-36-hours, unthought-out response to several pages of very personal attacks on the Quarter to Three forums, apologized for that within a few hours. Stardock went on to release approximately 9,457,092 patches within four days to address Elemental’s problems. None of them truly fixed the game, though, something apparently now recognized by Stardock’s leadership. And the damage, though, had been done; Elemental, so anticipated, has self-imploded no matter what happens next.
Wardell is not a fool. He’s been in this business for a long time, and despite occasional brashness, he’s an advocate for gamers. What he did next, therefore, is not only brave, it’s rather unheard of – especially given that, not being a fool, he surely realizes that it won’t help; it was just the right thing to do.
He fell on his sword. Big time. If you click that link, know that “Frogboy” is Brad, and the “Up North” to which he refers is Northern Michigan, a location to which those from my fine state retreat when they’ve had a crappy week. They really do have terrible internet up there. This is what he said:
(I’m up north on vacation typing on an extremely slow connection so bear with me)
I don’t think people yet fully realize the completeness of Stardock’s fail on Elementa’s launch.
I’m going to write more about this but not only did we think v1.05 was ready for everyone but we felt v1.0 was too. That’s the level of disconnect/poor judgment on our part we’re talking about.
If the game had come out in February, it would still have been a disastrous launch because lack of time wasn’t the issue. It was blindness, sheer blindness. We felt the game was finished. And I speak of v1.0, not v1.05. Blindness.
There will be massive consequences for Stardock’s game studio. I’ll be talking more about this when I get back. But the game wasn’t released early. The game was released poorly. Head in the sand syndrome imo. I’ve read the reviews as much as possible given my hideous internet access up here and I agree with them. We just didn’t see what they were talking about. We thought any complaints would be about polish points or something.
The point is, 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”. Elemental’s launch is the result of catastrophic poor judgment on my part.
EVERY competent software developer knows that the programmer must never be the one deciding whether the program is done. Yet, my love of Elemental broke my self discipline and I began coding on the game itself in vast amounts and lost any sense of objectivity on where the game’s state was. I normally only program the AI on our games so I can keep a level of distance from the game itself to determine whether it’s “Ready”. On Elemental, I was in love with the world and the game and lost my impartiality.
We’ll do better.
Stardock is unlikely to fold or anything as a result of Elemental’s likely financial failure. The company has a large office/productivity arm, is privately owned and self-published, and thus can contain whatever consequences to which Brad refers.
What’s frustrating to many journalists and gamers is that Stardock is one of the good guys, as is Brad Wardell, a fact proven by that post (can you imagine a big publisher studio doing something like that, despite the fact that games easily as broken as Elemental appear on shelves monthly? I think not). But the post, his recognition of the company’s mistakes, doesn’t change the fact that it is ruined. A small game, admittedly anticipated by a smaller audience than those who anticipate Call of Duty 864 or Halo: Reach (into your pocket to steal your money with another crapgasm of a shittastic shooter series by a whored-out developer that’s been in quality decline for the last 10 years), but a more devoted, more committed audience. Wardell’s post tells me, at least, that he realizes how much he’s hurt certain gamers. The Bungies and Activisions wouldn’t give a rip; those companies have not been or cared about gamers for decades.
Will Stardock fix Elemental? I suspect the company will. It has a long, long history of generous patches, expansions, improvements, and fixes to its own games. It hasn’t moved on to its next project, leaving this behind.
But will it matter? Poor Stardock, no. It won’t. And it kind of makes me sad because you know it won’t. But I have a feeling you’ll fix it anyway.
I haven’t bought Elemental. A friend described it – just last night – as “unplayable,” worse in every respect than a similar fantasy/strategy from 2004 that he’d recently played. I want to buy it. In fact, I wanted to buy it more than ever after Wardell posted that remarkable message because I wanted to support the company. But I’m not gonna. I’m gonna wait… until it’s fixed. Which may be a while, or may be never. While the apology doesn’t make right what Elemental failed to do, I personally hope other gamers appreciate that Stardock had the decency to recognize its own failure – something many people and most companies never have the balls to do – and to promise that it’ll do all in its power to prevent it from happening again.
Send an email to the author of this post at steerpike@tap-repeatedly.com.
I used Wardell’s software on my OS/2 rig and had an email exchange about a bug. He was spectacularly abusive but generous with an apologetic follow up when he confirmed the bug was real and serious. Current situation writ small.
The guy runs extremely hot, as do I. He’s often a huge jerk, as am I. He’s often flat out wrong, which I am most of the time. He owns his mistakes, which I attempt to do. The podcast Stardock ran was always fun, not least because it was open to alienating its own customers. The others on it often prodded him to do so, laughing the whole time.
No way in hell I’m giving Brad a pass on this one–the first post here about the problems was wildly generous, to the point where I couldn’t think of a reply other than smacking Steerpike on the back of the head–but he obviously agrees he’s not earned one and that’s almost good enough. My nose had Elemental stink from the anoucement but I was still sorry to see it crater.
Burn those resources and fix it, Brad, and if it’s then good you’ll get my money.
That was a sad read..
Man, I wanted this game to be good. I kept putting it off cause it always looked problematic. I’m sorry to see that it was much worse then I could have imagined,
I’m sorry for all the people who bought it, for all those who didn’t, and for the people at Stardock who must have put a lot of work into this, despite its failure.
I don’t doubt they’ll fix it… eventually. And I still want to buy it when it’s ready. I can’t imagine what this is costing them though.
Sad news.. but it still doesn’t disguise the fact that there was evidently no true player testing. Surely?
On another note, Stardock have just announced job losses as a result…
http://www.joystiq.com/2010/09/04/elemental-launch-results-in-stardock-layoffs
It’s a tricky situation. I’ve seen what Wardell describes: letting the programmers determine when the game is done. Or, more broadly, letting people who are too far “into” the game determine when it is (or is not) done. Duke Nukem Forever is a prime example; the game was likely “done” years ago but Broussard couldn’t bring himself to let it go because he didn’t feel it was perfect.
With Wardell at Stardock and Broussard at 3D Realms in charge, though, who’s to tell them no?
These guys are like three freeway exits down from me, and Michigan doesn’t need more job losses. I hope they’re able to put things back together and reacquire this staff, as Wardell suggested they would try to do.
Hopefully everyone can find a soft landing and he is able to rebuild sooner rather than later.
I read most of the thread in Wardell’s “final post” and a few of beta testers claim they informed Stardock of the game’s problems only to be harshly and succinctly dismissed by Wardell himself. One of them even posted links to the incriminating posts and they appear legitimate.
In response to one tester’s constructive criticism of the game’s units–namely, the lack of any distinction between weaponry–Wardell suggested for him to purchase the upcoming Civilization V because Elemental “isn’t for him.”
Really? You’re going to attack a beta tester for constructively and respectfully highlighting a potential flaw in your game? It’s odd for Wardell to claim he values “one friend who tells it like it is over 100 yes-men” when he lashes out against concerned beta testers.
Then again, he’s already apologized and shouldered the blame, but…Jesus, man. The more I learn about this shitstorm of a game, the more I’m amazed they released such a fine game as Galciv.
The best thing for Stardock and Mr. Wardell it seems to me after having read way too much about this is this: He needs to either just work as a programmer, or just work as the CEO or head of Stardock or whatever it is. Whatever job he takes, someone who is a skilled professional should take over the other side of his current responsibilities.
I know at least a few of you guys on this site have “creative” jobs, and I’m sure you can appreciate having, say an art director, give you objective and constructive criticism. Otherwise, if left all up to the artist, it can become to personal.. I gotta go and can’t really explain now, but I figure you understand. : )
Three Moves Ahead just put up Episode 81: Elemental Post Mortem with Brad Wardell.
http://flashofsteel.com/index.php/three-moves-ahead/
Streaming link to 81 isn’t there yet but it’s downloadable from the feed.
I played Elemental and it seemed ok. Haven’t spent that much time with it but….Funny how someone else’s “firestorm” can seem completely irrelevant to an employed dad of 2 toddlers. Oh well.
I have been playing the game since I bought it for myself for Christmas.
Yes, it has issues, but I really like it. My eleven year old daughter, who isn’t much of a gamer, is hooked.
I agree with issues raised by the reviewers. But, this is far from an “unplayable” game.
I like it a lot, despite its problems. So, Brad, if you read this, know the game is appreciated by two more people out in the world outside Stardock.