The "disastrous launch” of strategy game Elemental: War Of Magic has resulted in an unspecified number of layoffs at Michigan, US-based PC publisher and developer Stardock.
The news was originally reported by ShackNews and later confirmed by Stardock CEO Brad Wardell.
“I don't think people yet fully realize the completeness of Stardock's fail on Elemental's launch,” Wardell wrote on Elemental’s public forum. “Elemental's revenue was anticipated to provide the revenue both for our main games team's next project as well as a second team. Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen so we've had to start laying people off.
“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… 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.”
While those affected by the cuts weren’t specified, ShackNews reported that those let go included developers, designers and salespeople working on Elemental.
"No one involved on the core components of Elemental is affected," Wardell added. "It would be great if we can bring as many of these people back over time if the studio can afford it."