Stardock expands, working on unannounced RPG
Michigan-based developer Stardock is hiring up to 50 people to work on an as-yet unannounced RPG that'll be developed in its new studio. Well, "new studio" is a bit of a stretch. We spoke with the publisher's always-candid CEO, Brad Wardell, who explained the new studio is just another floor in the building the company already occupies. He indicates they've just slowly been acquiring more of it over the years.
Wardell tells us the team currently working on Elemental: War of Magic, expected to release in February of next year, will move on to develop Society, the company's long-in-development MMORTS. He explains that work on Society was on hold because the office simply didn't have the technological infrastructure at its Michigan studios to test an MMO. Stardock would have needed to open up a studio in Seattle or San Francisco to really get the ball rolling; however, Wardell expressed that the state and county really stepped up with tax incentives and access to a better communication infrastructure to now make Society possible. He was clear to point out that Society will not have a monthly subscription fee.
Wardell half-jokingly expressed it's been hard to get folks to move to Michigan and that he usually resorts to lying about the weather and amount of snow. He says the company's location has actually made the cost of business higher and expressed that, due to the infrastructure around the office, it's had to depend on Comcast business internet, instead of having its own dedicated line. There we go, folks. A solid company that's actually expanding! That's news!
