Stardock

Last updated
Stardock Corporation
Company type Private
Industry Computer software
Founded Livonia, Michigan (1991)
Headquarters Plymouth, Michigan, United States (June 18, 2005)
Key people
Brad Wardell (CEO)
Revenue$15 million (2009) [1]
Number of employees
50+ (May 2012)
Website www.stardock.com
Stardock headquarters building Stardock Corporation Headquarters building Plymouth Michigan.JPG
Stardock headquarters building

Stardock Corporation is an American software development company founded in 1991 and incorporated in 1993 as Stardock Systems. Stardock initially developed for the OS/2 platform, but was forced to switch to Microsoft Windows due to the collapse of the OS/2 software market between 1997 and 1998. [2] The company is best known for computer programs that allow a user to modify or extend a graphical user interface as well as personal computer games, particularly strategy games such as the Galactic Civilizations series, Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion , Elemental: Fallen Enchantress , and Ashes of the Singularity .

Contents

Stardock created and maintains WinCustomize, a graphical user interface customization community, and developed the Impulse content delivery system before its sale to GameStop. Many of the skins and themes featured on its site are for software that is part of their Object Desktop windows desktop suite. They are based in Plymouth, Michigan.

History

Stardock was founded by college student Brad Wardell and named after a major city in Raymond E. Feist's Riftwar Cycle . Stardock began as a custom PC maker and expanded into making software.

OS/2 era (1993–2001)

Stardock's initial product was a computer game for OS/2 called Galactic Civilizations . Stardock did not receive the majority of royalties from the initial sales of Galactic Civilizations due to publisher bankruptcy in addition to taking on many of the publisher's responsibilities, but the market had been created for subsequent addon packs including the Shipyards expansion, and Stardock later sold a significant number of licenses to IBM for part of its Family FunPak (under the name Star Emperor). Stardock went on to create OS/2 Essentials, and its successor, Object Desktop, which provided the company with a large base of users.

At about this time, IBM decided to abandon OS/2. However, they did not make this decision public, and Stardock continued to develop applications software and games for the platform, including Avarice and Entrepreneur. With the advent of Windows NT 4, Stardock found that their core user base was slipping away, and was forced to reinvent itself as a Windows developer, but not before it lost most of its money and staff. A key revealing point was the failure of its game Trials of Battle, a 3D hovercraft fighting game, which Stardock expected to sell a million copies and instead sold in the hundreds. Brad Wardell estimates that the death of OS/2 set the company back by about three years. [3]

Windows era (1998–present)

The newer, smaller Stardock was heavily reliant on the goodwill of its previous customers, who essentially purchased Windows subscriptions for Object Desktop in anticipation of the products it would consist of. Having put together a basic package (including some old favorites from the OS/2 era) Stardock began to bring in external developers to create original products.

Stardock's first major Windows success was with WindowBlinds, an application originated by a partnership with developer Neil Banfield. There turned out to be a large market for skinnable products, and Stardock prospered, growing significantly in the following five years. The release of Windows XP stimulated sales in Stardock products, and despite growing competition proportional to the market the company remains in a strong position.

In 2001, they added a widget creation and desktop modification tool, DesktopX, based on Alberto Riccio's VDE. This has not had such a wide uptake as other products; some believe this is because it is harder to use and to create for, others because users do not understand the functionality that it offers. DesktopX competes with Konfabulator and Kapsules in the widget arena. In 2003, Stardock became a Microsoft Gold Certified Partner with their "Designed for Windows" certification of WindowBlinds.

Stardock's success in the Windows game market has been mixed. At first, its titles on Windows were published by third parties: The Corporate Machine (Take 2), Galactic Civilizations (Strategy First), and The Political Machine (Ubisoft). While all three titles sold well at retail, Stardock was unsatisfied with the amount of revenue Windows games developers received. In the case of Galactic Civilizations, publisher Strategy First filed for bankruptcy without paying most of the royalties it owed. [4] This ultimately led to Stardock self-publishing its future titles. Because of the success of its desktop applications, Stardock has been able to self-fund its own PC games and aid third-party developers with their games as well.[ citation needed ]

In 2010 Q3, Stardock was forced into layoffs due to the unexpectedly poor launch of Elemental: War of Magic . [5] In response to the disappointment of Elemental: War of Magic, Stardock committed to giving the second game of the series, Elemental: Fallen Enchantress to early adopters of War of Magic. [6]

In 2012, Stardock successfully launched Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion to positive reviews. [7] This version was co-developed by Stardock and development partner Ironclad Games.

In July 2013, Stardock bought the Star Control franchise from the Atari, SA bankruptcy proceedings and has plans to reboot the franchise. This resulted in the release of Star Control Origins, a prequel to the original Star Control game, which was released in September 2018 to mixed reviews. Throughout development, the original creators of the Star Control license kept the game under tumultuous legal status. [8] [9]

Desktop enhancements and utilities

Stardock's Object Desktop is a set of PC desktop enhancement utilities designed to enable users to control the way their operating system looks, feels and functions. Originally developed for OS/2, the company released a version of it for Windows in 1999. Components of Object Desktop include WindowBlinds, IconPackager, DeskScapes, DesktopX, Fences and WindowFX, as well as utilities such as Multiplicity and SpaceMonger designed to increase productivity and stability on Windows.

Stardock also sells ObjectDock, which provides similar functionality to the dock found in Mac OS X, but with additional capabilities.

In 2012, Stardock added Start8 to Object Desktop, which adds a Start button and Start menu to Windows 8, whose lack of a traditional Start menu in favor of a Start screen received polarizing reception. [10] A similar program, Start10, was created in 2015 to add a Start menu to Windows 10 that looks similar to Windows 7's Start Menu. [11] Start10 was then followed by Start11, which aims to bring back Start menu and task bar functionality removed in Windows 11. [12]

WinCustomize

Stardock owns and operates a number of community-centric websites, the most popular of which is WinCustomize. WinCustomize is best known for providing a library of downloadable content, such as skins, themes, icons and wallpapers for the Microsoft Windows operating systems.

Gameography

Stardock began operating as a game developer with their first title, Galactic Civilizations for the OS/2 platform in 1994. [13] Stardock also published Stellar Frontier in 1995, a multiplayer space strategy/shooter game made by Doug Hendrix.

Stardock found success developing online software subscription services such as Object Desktop for the PC, which allowed them to slowly grow a separate game division. After the release of The Corporate Machine and Lightweight Ninja, [14] Stardock remade Galactic Civilizations for the PC. [13] A successful sequel was self-published by Stardock, [15] allowing them to grow their publishing business for third-party games, including titles such as Sins of a Solar Empire, [16] Demigod, [17] and Ashes of the Singularity. [18]

List of Stardock game titles
Game titleDeveloperPublisherRelease date
Galactic Civilizations (OS/2)StardockAdvanced Idea MachinesFall 1994
Stellar FrontierDoug HendrixStardock1995
The Corporate Machine Stardock Take-Two Interactive July 14, 2001
Lightweight NinjaStardockBlack ToothAugust 6, 2001
Galactic Civilizations (PC)Stardock Strategy First March 26, 2003
The Political Machine Stardock Ubisoft August 12, 2004
Galactic Civilizations II StardockStardockFebruary 21, 2006
Sins of a Solar Empire Ironclad Games StardockFebruary 4, 2008
The Political Machine 2008 StardockUbisoftJune 24, 2008
Demigod Gas Powered Games StardockApril 14, 2009
Elemental: War of Magic StardockStardockAugust 24, 2010
The Political Machine 2012 StardockStardockJuly 31, 2012
Elemental: Fallen Enchantress StardockStardockOctober 23, 2012
Dead Man's Draw StardockStardockFebruary 6, 2014
Galactic Civilizations III StardockStardockMay 14, 2015
Sorcerer King StardockStardockJune 16, 2015
The Political Machine 2016 StardockStardockFebruary 4, 2016
Ashes of the Singularity Oxide GamesStardockMarch 31, 2016
Offworld Trading Company Mohawk Games StardockApril 28, 2016
Star Control: Origins StardockStardockSeptember 20, 2018
Siege of Centauri StardockStardockSeptember 12, 2019
The Political Machine 2020 StardockStardockMarch 3, 2020
Galactic Civilizations IV StardockStardockApril 26, 2022
Sins of a Solar Empire II Ironclad Games StardockOctober 27, 2022 (early access)
The Political Machine 2024 StardockStardockFebruary, 2024 [19]

Digital distribution

Having developed Stardock Central to digitally distribute its own PC titles, the company launched a service called Drengin.net in summer 2003. The original idea was that users would pay a yearly subscription fee and receive new titles as they became available. Initially, Stardock's own titles along with titles from Strategy First were available. A year later, Stardock replaced the subscription model with a new system called TotalGaming.net in which users could purchase games individually or pay an upfront fee for tokens which allowed them to purchase games at a discount. TotalGaming.net targeted independent game developers rather than the larger publishers. In late 2008, new token purchases were discontinued.

In 2008, Stardock announced its third-generation digital distribution platform, Impulse. Stardock's intention was for Impulse to include independent third-party games and major publisher titles [20] and indeed, the service now includes content from a variety of publishers. The platform was sold to GameStop in May 2011. [21] [22]

After the sale of Impulse to GameStop and the lack of success in major sales, Stardock's titles have started to appear on rival digital distribution services such as Steam. [23]

ThinkDesk

ThinkDesk was a productivity application subscription service, launched by Stardock on 14 April 2005 as a utility counterpart to their Object Desktop and TotalGaming.net services. [24] Subscriptions were for one year, after which users could choose to renew or keep the software that they have, including all released upgrades to that date. The service never came out of beta and was discontinued in March 2009. [25]

ThinkDesk components were typically downloaded using Impulse, although if purchased separately they could also be downloaded as executable installers. They included:

Litigation

Stardock has been involved in litigation in relation to their business:

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Graphical user interface</span> User interface allowing interaction through graphical icons and visual indicators

A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows users to interact with electronic devices through graphical icons and visual indicators such as secondary notation. In many applications, GUIs are used instead of text-based UIs, which are based on typed command labels or text navigation. GUIs were introduced in reaction to the perceived steep learning curve of command-line interfaces (CLIs), which require commands to be typed on a computer keyboard.

<i>Star Control</i> 1990 video game

Star Control: Famous Battles of the Ur-Quan Conflict, Volume IV is an action-strategy video game developed by Toys for Bob and published by Accolade. It was originally released for MS-DOS and Amiga in 1990, followed by ports for the Sega Genesis and additional platforms in 1991. The story is set during an interstellar war between two space alien factions, with humanity joining the Alliance of Free Stars to defeat the invading Ur-Quan Hierarchy. Players can choose to play as either faction, each with seven different alien starships which are used during the game's combat and strategy sections.

<i>Galactic Civilizations</i> 2003 video game

Galactic Civilizations is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Stardock and released in March 2003. The game is a remake of an OS/2 series of the same name. An expansion pack entitled Altarian Prophecy was released in 2004. A sequel, Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords, was released February 21, 2006. On May 14, 2015, Stardock released Galactic Civilizations III. On April 26, 2022, Stardock released Galactic Civilizations IV.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">4X</span> Genre of strategy-based video and board games

4X is a subgenre of strategy-based computer and board games, and includes both turn-based and real-time strategy titles. The gameplay generally involves building an empire. Emphasis is placed upon economic and technological development, as well as a range of military and non-military routes to supremacy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WindowBlinds</span> Windows user interface customization software

WindowBlinds is a computer program that allows users to skin the Windows graphical user interface. It has been developed by Stardock since 1998, and is the most popular component of their flagship software suite, Object Desktop. It is also available separately, and as an ActiveX/COM component called DirectSkin. Introduced in its sixth version, it supports alpha blending effects similar to the compositing of Windows Vista, but on Windows XP.

<i>Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords</i> 2006 video game

Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords is a 4X turn-based strategy by Stardock for Microsoft Windows. It is the sequel to the 2003 game, Galactic Civilizations, and was released at retail and on Stardock's online subscription service, TotalGaming.net, on February 21, 2006. An expansion, Dark Avatar, was released in February 2007. A second expansion, Twilight of the Arnor, was released in April 2008.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Object Desktop</span>

Object Desktop is an online software subscription service created by Stardock for OS/2 and relaunched for Windows in 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stardock Central</span>

Stardock Central was a software content delivery and digital rights management system used by Stardock customers to access components of the Object Desktop, TotalGaming.net and ThinkDesk product lines, as well as products under the WinCustomize brand.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brad Wardell</span> American novelist

Bradley R. Wardell is an American businessman, programmer, author and AI engineer. He is the founder, president, and chief executive officer of Stardock, a software development and computer games company.

<i>Sins of a Solar Empire</i> 2008 video game

Sins of a Solar Empire is a 2008 science fiction real-time strategy video game developed by Ironclad Games and published by Stardock Entertainment for Microsoft Windows operating systems. It is a real-time strategy (RTS) game that incorporates some elements from 4X games; its makers describe it as "RT4X". Players are given control of a spacefaring empire in the distant future, and are tasked with conquering star systems using military, economic and diplomatic means.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Impulse (software)</span> Defunct video game distribution platform (2008-14)

Impulse was a digital distribution and multiplayer platform. Originally developed by Stardock to succeed Stardock Central, it was purchased by GameStop in March 2011, and was subsequently rebranded as GameStop PC Downloads, with the client being renamed GameStop App. The client was discontinued in April 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MyColors</span>

MyColors is a digital distribution platform for themes developed by Stardock. It allows users to skin the Windows graphical user interface. Sets of themes have been made in partnership with GM, Ford, HP, Dell, the NHL, NBA, and NCAA.

GamersGate AB is a Sweden-based online video game store offering electronic strategy guides and games for Windows, macOS, and Linux via direct download. It is a competitor to online video game services such as Steam, GOG.com, and Direct2Drive.

<i>Elemental: War of Magic</i> 2010 video game

Elemental: War of Magic is a fantasy 4X turn-based strategy game developed and published by Stardock, released in August 24, 2010.

In the video game industry, digital distribution is the process of delivering video game content as digital information, without the exchange or purchase of new physical media such as ROM cartridges, magnetic storage, optical discs and flash memory cards. This process has existed since the early 1980s, but it was only with network advancements in bandwidth capabilities in the early 2000s that digital distribution became more prominent as a method of selling games. Currently, the process is dominated by online distribution over broadband Internet.

<i>Elemental: Fallen Enchantress</i> 2012 video game

Elemental: Fallen Enchantress is a turn-based strategy video game developed and published by Stardock for Microsoft Windows in 2012.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oxide Games</span> American video game developer

Oxide Games is an American video game developer based in Lutherville-Timonium, Maryland. The studio was founded in January 2013 by Brad Wardell and former Firaxis employees Dan Baker, Marc Meyer, Brian Wade, and Tim Kipp.

<i>Star Control: Origins</i> 2018 video game

Star Control: Origins is an action-adventure game developed and published by Stardock Entertainment for Microsoft Windows, released September 20, 2018.

<i>Stardock Systems, Inc. v. Reiche</i> 2018 legal case

Stardock Systems, Inc. v. Paul Reiche III and Robert Frederick Ford, 2018 WL 7348858 is a legal case that led to a settlement confirming an intellectual property split for the Star Control series of games. After a motion at the United States District Court, the parties agreed that series creators Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford owned the copyrights for the games Star Control (1990) and Star Control II (1992), while Stardock owned the Star Control trademark, with neither side using each other's intellectual property in future releases.

<i>Galactic Civilizations IV</i> 2022 video game

Galactic Civilizations IV is a 4X turn-based strategy video game developed by Stardock for Microsoft Windows. It features standard 4X space gameplay such as colonizing a galaxy, engaging in space combat, and discovering new technology and alien species. As the fourth entry in the Galactic Civilizations series, the game adds an artificial intelligence assistant, a scoring system, and a larger galaxy organized into multiple sectors of tile-based maps. The game entered early access in 2021, promising to learn from other 4X games including Stellaris, Endless Space, and Distant Worlds.

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