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Stardock - From Indie Developer to Publisher

Posted by Zonk on from the growing-up-gamer dept.

Consumed_Crustacean writes "GameDaily has an interview with Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock Systems. In the interview, they discuss Stardock's transition from a smallish independent developer to a full-blown publisher (both retail and online). Of particular interest is the discussion on DRM and their online distribution, which Wardell opposes, and said 'Software piracy is something that tends to be overblown. The question for us boils down to the number of sales lost due to piracy versus the number of sales lost due to people not wanting to be inconvenienced.'"

28 comments

  1. Amen by n9uxu8 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Brother...

    Glad to see a publisher that can at least factor the consumer experience into the drm equation...

    Dave

  2. A Soft-DRM in practice! by RingDev · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Our goal is to make it very convenient to purchase our software and somewhat inconvenient to pirate it."

    That is the way to do it. A DRM shouldn't PREVENT illegal behavior, just make it so that legal behavior is more convenient! This is exactly the theory that I preach in my journal ;) http://slashdot.org/~RingDev/journal/126947

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
  3. Indies by Arandir · · Score: 3, Interesting

    What the difference between an indie developer and a publisher? At what point does one stop being a independent.

    p.s. One reason I ask is that a friend's rpg game company, with all of three employees, is not considered "indie", and thus finds their products frequently panned and derided on indie-oriented forums.

    --
    A Government Is a Body of People, Usually Notably Ungoverned
    1. Re:Indies by heinousjay · · Score: 1

      Apparently, you think you can somehow define the fickle taste of teenagers? Why care about such things?

      --
      Slashdot - where whining about luck is the new way to make the world you want.
    2. Re:Indies by iocat · · Score: 1

      I think if you're doing it for a living -- if you don't have a day job -- it's not considered "indie." If you're doing it indie, and you have a big hit, and then you quit your day job, well, then you still have your indie cred, for a few months I guess...

      --

      Dude, I think I can see my house from here.

    3. Re:Indies by zoomba · · Score: 1

      I think the whole "indie" thing in music, comics, games etc follows a very simple rule:

      If you are unsuccessful at making money from games/music/comics, then you're indie.
      If you manage to make money in any real amount, then you're a souless corporate bastard who should be ridiculed and hated.

      In Stardock's case, they got the indie credit because their games were never considered AAA titles with tons of marketing and corporate push from the publisher... they also used publishers that were far from the top of the industry... as evidenced by how many skipped town without paying royalties on sales.

    4. Re:Indies by patio11 · · Score: 1

      This is the weakness of the "indie" subculture -- they view making money as some sort of moral weakness, and despite the fact that nearly all of them hold dreams of eventually making money themselves anyone who actually manages to ascend to that magic plane of profitability will have to do it with millions of people wrapped around their ankles trying to hold them back. Its also one of the reasons you so rarely see worthwhile product from people with pretensions of indieness. Give me a company like Stardock or Three Rings -- "We're professionals and this is our job, but we value our independence" over the game developer equivalent of an emo kid any day.

      --
      Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
  4. I recognise that name... by caffeination · · Score: 1

    Ah yes! That's that company who've never received a penny from me or anybody I know, yet whose marvelous Windows skinning program seems to be somehow installed in full version mode on all our computers!
    They actually have a very interesting business plan: create decent minimalist software with a big focus on letting users create content for it, thus allowing for the creation of a hugely attractive library at no cost. It's very cool, and a sure sign of the effect of the internet on proprietary software.
    That being said, another possible path would have been to make the software a free download, and force theme downloads through it as a client, and integrate a "you have to have paid to get access" system. Problem is, this would probably mean they'd have to make the themes themselves instead. Would the lost revenue be made up by the fact that people would actually have to pay for at least something?

    1. Re:I recognise that name... by kwilas · · Score: 5, Informative

      Disclaimer: I work for Stardock. Stardock does not bundle adware, malware, or spyware with our applications. While I'm thrilled that Windows Classic is "just fine" for you, some people like their car to come in a color other than black.

    2. Re:I recognise that name... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Two very interesting posts.
      If I used windows more often, I'd probably be a bit more worried about what the cracked .exe puts into my registry etc. Thing is, if I did use windows more often, I'd probably also be inclined to either actually buy the program anyway or just make do with a black car, meaning this is all a little academic for me.

    3. Re:I recognise that name... by rnpg1014 · · Score: 1

      Sorry, but the last time I installed Stardock, I thought McAffe would explode. If this is true, then that was a very interesting coincidence.

      --
      - Nick
    4. Re:I recognise that name... by Suppafly · · Score: 1

      No, but they do seem to install a bunch of startmenu icons from several of their apps even when you only install one of them. Icons that don't go away when you run the uninstaller.

  5. Random Going Out of Business Generator. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "Of particular interest is the discussion on DRM and their online distribution, which Wardell opposes, and said 'Software piracy is something that tends to be overblown. The question for us boils down to the number of sales lost due to piracy versus the number of sales lost due to people not wanting to be inconvenienced.'""

    Variable Inconvience := Some Number pulled out of my ass, Piracy:= Also pulled from my ass.

    IF (# sales lost due to #Piracy) < (# of sales lost due to #Inconvience) THEN stay in business.

    IF (# sales lost due to #Piracy) > (# of sales lost due to #Inconvience) THEN go out of business.

  6. stardock ownz by davez0r · · Score: 2, Interesting

    i was just going to say that stardock makes galactic civilizations, which is awesome. i pirated it at first, but i liked it so much that i bought it.

    and i had no idea they had so many other products

    yay to them.

    1. Re:stardock ownz by JediLow · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Stardock is a pretty good company. I've been keeping up with the developers journals about GalCiv II and the amount of work that they've put into it to make something good is above and beyond what people do these days. Instead of the patch mentality that most companies have they're trying to get the game shipped in a finished state... which more companies really should follow.

      It also helps that their staff regularly reads the forums and answers questions...

    2. Re:stardock ownz by smchris · · Score: 1

      Garsh -- lost in the sands of time. Not even a mention that Galactic Civilizations started out as an OS/2 operating system game? As did Object Desktop. OS/2 Warp with Object Desktop really rocked in the age of Win9X. Like driving a pimped up Caddie with heated seats and adjustable seat and steering wheel compared to a Jeep.

      Brad seems to be an interesting person who is often willing to ruminate on the computer biz. It's too bad he left a bit of a bad taste with the OS/2 crowd by laying down some heavy bitterness about the system when he saw it's market wasn't going anywhere but down.

  7. Re:Easy for him to say... by Captain+Splendid · · Score: 1

    While I'll agree with you that their offerings do tend to emphasize quantity over quality, they're still pretty much the only game in town when it comes to modifying the look and feel of the windows GUI. I think it's that (succesful) point that allows them to be so nonchalant about piracy.

    --
    Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
  8. Somewhat off-topic, but... by martinultima · · Score: 1

    I remember them! I used to be addicted to WindowBlinds when I was still stuck with 98SE (the last version I ever owned). Although then again, these days I tend to prefer KDE mixed with Enlightenment myself...

    --
    Creative misinterpretation is your friend.
    1. Re:Somewhat off-topic, but... by jholzer · · Score: 1

      I remember them. Object Desktop and Galactic Civilizations for OS/2. When I see Stardock I always remember my old OS/2 machine. Then I remember that damn single input queue on the otherwise nice (at the time) UI. One app would always hang the stupid UI.

  9. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  10. Some definitions by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    Indie developer: A developer who creates a game with their own resources, as opposed to having development funded by a publisher. The developer thus has the independence to create any kind of game they desire, based on their preferences, market analysis, or artistic license, and are not at risk of being cancelled or forced to change their design by a third party publisher.

    Publisher: A company who distributes, markets, supports, and/or finances game development projects. Publishing can vary widely; some publishers do everything, from game inception to retail. Others act as sales affiliates, and sell completed games for a commission.

    An indie can use a publisher, but it is usually after the game is complete. Most indies are seeking marketing and distribution from a publisher, not financing; accordingly, they retain control over the creative direction of the game instead of handing it over to the publisher who funded it.

  11. One of my better CS experiences by patio11 · · Score: 1
    It really is as easy to take their games from point A to point B as they advertise. I moved to Japan 2 years ago and the only game that came with me was GalCiv I, because they had associated my CD key with my email address and they let me download the entire thing over again (not a challenge for Japanese residential broadband ;) ). That was pretty nice when the cost of a PC game here is about $100 ($60 for *Starcraft*, for pete's sake). I was so impressed at my ability to get GalCiv working fine on a new computer without any DRM issues and without the CD that I sent them a letter (sales@ is the email address) just to say thanks and *got a reply from a real actual human being thanking me for my business*. Try THAT with EA.

    I was so impressed that I bought their 1-year subscription deal and, not to put too fine a point on it, it was pretty underwhelming -- the only game that I got out of it which I enjoyed was Political Machine (retail price $30 vs. $65 for subscription). Then I found out this past week that they did away with the one year deal thingee and converted my old one-year deal into 10 tokens to use to purchase their games, 5 of which just pre-ordered GalCiv 2 for me. Doing the math, that means I just got a premier turn-based strategy game for, oh, $17 or so. With some value saved up for the inevitable expansion or any other game they release that strikes my fancy*. I just love doing business with them.

    * It seems recently they've started publishing casual games, too. One of them, the pizza one, is just "#$"&"#$ stupid addictive fun. I tried the download before from some random site but couldn't bother myself to spend $20 for it. But "pay two tokens" makes it sound like a pretty appealing proposition, given that I've already gotten my money's worth out of the tokens I've spent so its like I'm getting that game for free...

    --
    Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
    1. Re:One of my better CS experiences by Dracil · · Score: 1

      When did you subscribe? You should've received GC2 for free (and been in the beta) already if you were a subscriber before a certain date, around summer last year.

    2. Re:One of my better CS experiences by GeekDork · · Score: 1

      I think they're offering Jets'n'Guns too... That's a good one, even though it's rather short.

      --

      Fight hunger. Filet a politician and send him to a 3rd world country of your choice.

  12. Re:Easy for him to say... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Exactly, no sense in pirating something that is a major yawnfest. Stardock only competes in tiny niche markets filled with equally subpar games. Despite looking good, a polished turd is still crap.

  13. Re:Easy for him to say... by FrogBoy! · · Score: 1

    Last two Stardock retail games won Editor's Choice Awards from Computer Gaming World. GalCiv I itself got a bunch of Editor's Choice Awards.

    Here's a Gamespy review from today of GalCiv II.
    http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/galactic-civilizations-ii /684534p1.html

    -(designer of "polished crap")