No. One involves severance packages and the other does not.  One involves being able to draw unemployment, the other does not. 

I agree with you that it sucks whenever someone loses their job. It's soul crushing to have to downsize staff, especially after we all worked so hard. And I agree it's not fair.  Not fair at all.

Over the years, especially during the transition from OS/2 to Windows, I've had to lay people off. And it's never fair.  Back in the late 90s I had to lay off a very close friend of mine who was brilliant at his job. He'd done nothing wrong. I had made the mistake of staying with OS/2 long after it should have (in hindsight) been obvious that OS/2 was dying and my friend lost his job as a result.

The people we've laid off did nothing wrong either. A DB manager, A receptionist, A QA tester, a developer, a designer, a sales executive and a web designer. I know each and every one of them. Each one is a great person, a hard worker, an outstanding employee that any company would be lucky to have.  And I wish I could say this was going to be the end of it but it isn't and everyone here at work nows it and it sucks.

Having a business is great sometimes and awful other times. This is one of those hard times where you're in the shitty position of having to decide which people you can keep and which people to lay off.  The main casualty will ultimately be the second game's team that we were hoping Elemental would be able to fund.

Elemental has creditors?!??

This is really bizarre on many levels. I wasn't aware that Stardock had investors (outside of me) and have to wonder what this "source" thinks paid for Elemental in the first place (oh wait, the "investors").  I'm skeptical that this person is connected to Stardock. Joystiq should be careful with this kind of thing - not to mention, I can't imagine anyone from Stardock (present or former employee) would behave in that way.  

I hope this is not true. It would be contrary to everything that was said.

edit: oops looks like Brad already responded while I was posting.

Saddest thing is, that most of the people in beta, wanted the game to be postponded to February, because, we felt it is not ready. Frogboy had a different opinion on this matter. If it would be other way arround, none of this would most propably happened.

Overall, releasing game withnout any proper playtesting and polishing is just stupid idea.... Its like throwing a coin, and hope for a result. Hopefuly everyone learned their lessons here, we are just humans, all of us. And we do mistakes, important is, to not repeat them.

Thats what I thought, thanks for the clarifying info...you may want to contact them, because people are taking it as gospel.

Is there any way to keep these people?   Sorry if that sounds Pollyana-ish.  Didn't the game nearly break even just from pre-orders?

I know if you lost coders- another person I know who is similar personalitywise to you is trying to make a PC/Mac fighting game and is looking for coders (He has done a couple projects for XBLA for Capcom), so I'm trying to direct over to him, I think he has some budget- it might help.

I've got a lot of criticism for Stardock/Brad over choices over this game, and a laundry list of reasons I did not wind up keeping my order, but even I have to believe the Brad would do everything he could to keep his staff. If it was possible to keep them, I don't think he would let them go.

I think Elemental is a prime reason why I might avoid pre orders in the future, regardless of favoritism of developers. While its sad to see my favorite team take a hit, I know Frogboy can understand why I am disappointed here.

I bought the game yesterday and applied the 1.07 patch so I can't speak for playability before this. As for 1.07, I only noticed a couple of minor irritations regarding the interface (hitting B, S, or T multiple times opens multiples of the given window, and has to be closed that number of times), and after playing for about an hour, on the main map and tactical map, when I move a unit they sometimes turn invisible. Eventually I am unable to move them so I must either autoresolve, or save, quit and reload.

Aside from that, the game is pretty fun. I bought Civ4 when it came out and wanted to hang myself after an hour. Never played it again. But I have enjoyed Elemental so far and am looking forward to another chunk of the campaign being released.

Lastly, if you've never supervised or managed in an organization before, keep your worthless opinions regarding how it should be done to yourself. It's like listening to a virgin's thoughts on intercourse.

Do you remember when Radio Shack sent e-mails out to employees telling them they were fired? Are you suggesting that the general public should not have objected to that behavior because they've never managed an organization? What about when Sigil gathered their employees in a parking lot and handed them their pink slips then? Is the gaming community not supposed to be appalled at that behavior because they may not have managed employees?

Your comparison is poor. You don't have to experience something per-say to have a solid basis for making an opinion.

You know, after seeing how this went down, I'd go ahead and get rid of your QA entirely and instead just hire outside consultants that have absolutely no stake in the game at all.

Internal QA + self-admitted "blind" developers/CEO with emotional connections to their work + featurecreep  = "yes sir yes sir three bags full."

Thank you for your honesty about what is going on with Stardock as well as your feelings about the launch.  It's a rare trait to see such candor, although I think you are taking too much on your shoulders about Elemental's rocky start.  Yes, the buck stops with you.  But at the same time, dammit, I love this game.  I'd be grinding my teeth if I had to wait until February for a more polished product.

I'm glad I ordered this game directly from Stardock.  My one sale wasn't enough to save the people who lost their jobs, but it might have helped prevent further downsizing.  I'm very upset about hearing of the layoffs, and hope that your friends land on their feet quickly.  It's a hard road out there right now, no matter who you are.

As a customer, I get to choose where to spend my money and I choose Stardock.  What else can I say?  It's a vote of confidence.

Very true, but also making sure you know the difference between a firing and a layoff helps. :/

Good luck to those getting laid off. Hope everything works out.

Well, first off, allow me to apologize to you, Frogboy.

I did not have enough info on this, and thus assumed that "some moronic manager with reality-loss" messed things up. Aftter reading your very open and honest post on this ("my own catastrophic poor judgment") I understood what happened, and I do apologize. 

Here's to you, for actually being a real manager! 

Yes, I bought the LE version the instant I could pre-order. And I don't regret it. And to support your company, I've just ordered it again.

And I feel for the poor people who got layed off. I do hope that they'll find something else soon!

"Revjwh, you clearly care more about poor Brad the poor old Stardock company than people who have been laid off and are now struggling to find out how they will pay their mortgage/rent or feed themselves or their children. You're not operating in reality."

Agree with this 100% - stardock should employ everybody in the US and canada, and at the same time solve world hunger/water problems.  Not doing so is just being selfish.

This makes me very sad Mr. Wardell. Very sad indeed. I believe, however, you can make good. Here's to hoping

I have to disagree with your statement about being terminated "usually doesn't get qualified for unemployment".  But anyways...

Layoffs happen all the time.  While I agree that it sucks that it happens due to "mistakes" outside of the employee's control, it happens nonetheless very frequently.  It's a fact of life for any working adult working today.

This is a sad day, for sure! I hate to read all of this cause in my working life I once was layed off myself so I feel for all those employees that are unemployed now.

Talkin' about Elemental. I LOVE this game - love the lore (reading the book at the moment) and I will continue to play every new refinement of it! I wish that I only had more time to participate in posting suggestions and ideas for the game or more money to buy a second copy to support your fine folk at Stardock!

Please, Brad + Team don't get hang in there and keep up your work. I am more than confident that EWoM will be one of the best well-known TBS titles out there in the future.

Another example of why these forums need a dev tracker.

Otherwise, summarize these rebuttals into a dev journal post so that people coming to the Elemental site looking for the truth can find it.

Which is largely what I was angling toward. Obviously anyone can spout off on anything. Merely having an opinion on something one has no real knowledge of does not necessarily give the opinion worth, which was the heart of my statement with which you have a problem.

Also, the two examples you give are painfully obvious examples any person can find disagreeable, and are indicative of behaviors that are found all over, not simply in management. Knowing jerky behavior doesn't make your opinion valuable.

I have been a registered member of the Stardock forums since July 2002 -- since 4 years before you arrived, Annatar11 -- and I have seen you rise as a brilliant star.  

I even got around to believe that you became a personal friend of "the man in charge" -- a status I never tried to achieve.

I am consequently very surprised by the very end of your post # 94 :

"[...A]t the moment I'm not sure how much respect I'll have for the man in charge."

I perceived you as one of the most calm, reasonable, and fair top-members of the Stardock forums. 

I won't pass judgment on you. I'll leave it at this :

I'm extremely surprised that you, of all people, posted such a declaration.

I am glad a bought this game.

Not only because I like it, and have played it alot, but also because of Stardock and how they conduct themselves.

I for one am looking forward to what Stardock is going to do with the game in the year to come.

I will buy the next game Stardock release as well.

I didn't know much about Stardock before, but I am a fan now.