[ruuk]

Stardock is suing an ex-employee for one million dollars.

Link to the lawsuit.

The jist of the suit is that Stardock claims a marketing employee quit three weeks before the game was released and took or destroyed marketing materials for the game on her way out the door. Stardock claims to have lost lost a million dollars in profits because they weren't able to market the game correctly, causing them to spend the three weeks leading up to the release on trying to market the game, which left them no time to program and debug the game.

27. Additionally, the interruption in availability of the Elemental Materials caused Plaintiff to lose more than $1,000,000 in profits. 28. The date Defendant deleted, destroyed and/or stole Plaintiff’s Analytics, Elemental Materials and Trade Show Information was approximately three (3) weeks before the launch of Elemental. 29. As a result of the loss of the Elemental Materials and Analytics, Plaintiff was unable to complete marketing efforts vital to the success of Elemental. 30. Additionally, Plaintiff had to spend vital time leading up to the release of Elemental attempting to re-create the Elemental Materials, rather than programming, debugging and otherwise readying Elemental for release.

[piratepwnsninja]

Three weeks? Come on, it's taken months to get that game to where it should have been at release.

[epmode]

*puts down sandwich*

Woah.

[Sinatar]

Oh... kay.

[Psi]

It's always someone else's fault.

[Hasardeur]

this will be interesting

[KePoW]

Does this employee even have 1M dollars?

[TheExecutive]

Hopefully they win and build galactic civilizations 3 with the "proceeds".

[Jackpot]

Isn't Stardock's CEO rather... nutty and egotistical? Seems expected he'd find an excuse for his game's failure.

Surely all those alleged fixes could have been implemented 1 month after the need for marketing materials had passed. Have they? What state is the game in?

[Tawney Bomb]

So...could publishers sue devs for making bad games that bomb if this goes good for them?

[Xanathus]

30. Additionally, Plaintiff had to spend vital time leading up to the release of Elemental attempting to re-create the Elemental Materials, rather than programming, debugging and otherwise readying Elemental for release.

So they're claiming that they had to put programmers and testers onto making marketing stuff because of his as an excuse about how broken that game is/was? Wow. Scumbags.

[GotEmRunnin]

....I have no words.

[HamPster PamPster]

Stop suing people and write a sequel to Elemental: Destiny's Embers. I know I know, its a terrible book but it ends on a cliffhanger and I want to know :(

[Perkel]

If he did what they described and this was't included in his contract (errasing his work under employer) then yes it's valid motiv to sue someone.

It is the same reason why someone can get sued for 1mln$ for arsoning someone house.

If there was line in contract that his work is only his noone else then yes Startdock is bully here.

[Kai Dracon]

So...

They selected an imaginary amount of money and claimed that hypothetical customers would have given it to them if a PR staffer hadn't turned over a magazine rack on their way out of the lobby. And it took everyone at Stardock so long to pick the magazines back up, that they couldn't make the game work.

[Fugu]

It's a shame, too. Stardock had a fine, consumer-friendly reputation until Elemental.

[diffusionx]

That's pretty funny. All the defendent's lawyer needs to do is post a few of Wardell's posts post launch where he is falling on his sword and blaming himself for everything that went wrong with that crap game. This will get dismissed right quick.

[Khezu]

Wasn't Elemental a broken piece of shit? Or was that a different Stardock game?

That said, really douchetastic move on her part, so no sympathy, is she did it on purpose anyway.

[toythatkills]

So...could publishers sue devs for making bad games that bomb if this goes good for them?

This isn't "the game failed so I'm suing you." The woman apparently stole marketing materials, etc, leaving them in no position to market the game. If there's truth in that then they have every right to take action.

(Even if three weeks still wouldn't have been nearly long enough.)

[ymmv]

Stardock claims to have lost lost a million dollars in profits because they weren't able to market the game correctly, causing them to spend the three weeks leading up to the release on trying to market the game, which left them no time to program and debug the game.

Because someone from marketing suddenly left, the programmers, designers and testers all had to step in making new PR material???

[Joe Shlabotnik]

Stardock is an odd company, all around.

[inky]

So they're claiming that they had to put programmers and testers onto making marketing stuff because of his as an excuse about how broken that game is/was? Wow. Scumbags.

Yea, that part is really weird. I don't see how having to put more resources into mktg all of a sudden incapacitates your programing/QA teams.

That said, if the employee who left really destroyed ready-for-launch material, there is indeed a claim to some damages.

[Kai Dracon]

Because someone from marketing suddenly left, the programmers, designers and testers all had to step in making new PR material???

To be fair it must have been a really big poster, and colored markers are really small.

They may have kept running out of sky blue too. That happens a lot.

[Rufus]

Personal responsibility, huh, Mr. Wardell?

[TouchMyBox]

Wasn't Elemental a broken piece of shit? Or was that a different Stardock game? That said, really douchetastic move on her part, so no sympathy, is she did it on purpose anyway.

Let's just say that Stardock felt the need to give the sequel away for free to people unfortunate enough to buy elemental.

Every time I tried to play that game near launch it seemed like a pre-alpha product.

[chiablo]

Can I sue Stardock for a million dollars? That's the amount of disappointment I felt because of Demigods.

[Lactose_Intolerant]

If the person actually stole/destroyed marketing material, they have a valid lawsuit. Blaming this as one of the reasons the game was a piece of shit on release isn't valid.

[KKRT00]

Stardock claims to have lost lost a million dollars in profits because they weren't able to market the game correctly, causing them to spend the three weeks leading up to the release on trying to market the game, which left them no time to program and debug the game.

Hahaha thats some hilarious stuff right here, if i were a judge i was laugh hard and then close the case.

[Clevinger]

This guy sounds like Curt Schilling.

[Sethos]

Brad became a partner over at Neowin, so they gave him Admin powers - The guy abused that shit to hell and back. Stardock is a joke.

[Lactose_Intolerant]

This guy sounds like Curt Schilling.

I remember the ceo getting into a fight with people on the Quarter to Three forums. Curt at least didn't start forum fights.

[SteelAttack]

So... They selected an imaginary amount of money and claimed that hypothetical customers would have given it to them if a PR staffer hadn't turned over a magazine rack on their way out of the lobby. And it took everyone at Stardock so long to pick the magazines back up, that they couldn't make the game work.

This is awesome.

Sue is fucked up, though. I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of that employee. And the worst part is that the only ones that will truly get something out of this are lawyers.

[Mrbob]

Brad Wardell, ladies and gentlemen.

Oh how your hero has fallen over the years, Eznark.

[GillianSeed79]

Hahaha thats some hilarious stuff right here, if i were a judge i was laugh hard and then close the case.

Like, honestly, how would this actually happen?

Stardock: Johnson, get off your ass and help us market this game. We've only got three weeks until we ship.

Johnson: But I'm a programmer. I don't know anything about marketing. Besides there's still bugs I need to fix.

Strardock: You're fired Johnson.

[Perkel]

Hahaha thats some hilarious stuff right here, if i were a judge i was laugh hard and then close the case.

Why is it so funny to you ? Maybe they had strict budged so they moved rest of budget to PR department leaving only few people polishing game ?

[DaveVoyles]

The comments here are why most people stay away from NeoGAF.

1) You always ask for more than you think you'll get.

With this in mind, Stardock is well aware that they will not get $1 mil. At best they would get what, half? Subtract court fees, processing, and the lawyer's cut, and what are you really left with?

2) If someone steals / destroys your material, then yes, it is grounds for suit. If she just walked out, that's a different story, but that is not what they are claiming.

[eznark]

Can I sue Stardock for a million dollars? That's the amount of disappointment I felt because of Demigods.

Sue Gas Powered Games.

[Sethos]

The comments here are why most people stay away from NeoGAF.

Yeah, NeoGAF is really inactive and almost void of users.

[Aaron]

Yes, I'm sure those few weeks could have prevented the game from being complete shit. Videogames often turn around right before release. Look at Duke Nukem Forever.

[GungHo]

30. Additionally, Plaintiff had to spend vital time leading up to the release of Elemental attempting to re-create the Elemental Materials, rather than programming, debugging and otherwise readying Elemental for release.

So... how long did it take them to re-create the materials and how long did it take for the game to not be a broken piece of shit?

[Victrix]

There's two different issues here:

1) A malicious employee destroyed work material while leaving. That's a no no.

2) Stardock is claiming their fantastic title Elemental could have sold more copies to stupid suckers with better marketing, who then would have been very sad along with any other poor fools (like me) who actually bought the shitty game.

1) is business 2) is also business, but particularly scummy business in light of the quality of that 'game'

[Woo-Fu]

This is some funny shit. Elemental was a buggy, unfinished steaming pile. Marketing wasn't the problem.

[King Boo]

without my glasses, i read it as "starbuck sues former employee for $1,000,000 over the failure of Elemental." I got real excited since i thought it would be an interesting read...what does a coffee shop have to do with the game?!

but nvm.

[Delusibeta]

So they're claiming that they lost a million dollars due to this person stealing their marketing, and not due to them producing a shit game and everyone and their dog calling them out for it? I don't buy it, somehow.

[scy]

After reading the title: lol wut

The jist of the suit is that Stardock claims a marketing employee quit three weeks before the game was released and took or destroyed marketing materials for the game on her way out the door.

After reading that, however, I'd think there's potentially something there if things were indeed taken and/or destroyed.

That aside ... I don't even remember Elemental. And it is quite hard to take this as anything besides "The game was bad but better marketing would've got us more bad game sales!", even with all the attempts to spin it to "we did marketing instead of debugging!" Which, really, makes things sound all the worse to be honest.

[dLMN8R]

Oh Wardell, what on earth are you thinking will come from this?


I also like that it's a blatant admission that "we know the game sucked but if the marketing was there more people would've been duped into buying it!"

[Joe Shlabotnik]

The comments here are why most people stay away from NeoGAF.

80,000 registered members and whoever-knows how many lurkers?

Your points are salient but it also stretches belief that the game was three weeks of bug-checking away from being super-special, when they eventually gave away the next game for free as an apology.

[GungHo]

Oh Wardell, what on earth are you thinking will come from this? I also like that it's a blatant admission that "we know the game sucked but if the marketing was there more people would've been duped into buying it!"

Brad's not that deep a thinker.

[Apdiddy]

I'm sorry but I'm calling bullshit on this one. Marketing couldn't save a game that was buggy and should have never been published until it was fixed.

EDIT: Even if what is alleged about the ex-employee is true, I don't think it cause that much of a diversion from finishing the game. If it were that much of a problem, Stardock could have delayed the game until it was in a shippable state and recreated the marketing materials.

[Dreams-Visions]

If the person actually stole/destroyed marketing material, they have a valid lawsuit. Blaming this as one of the reasons the game was a piece of shit on release isn't valid.

+1 on this.

If they're going to try to convince the court that they shifted DEVELOPERS onto the MARKETING team such that they lost programming time...I'm gonna call 100% Grade-A bullshit on them. Pics or it didn't fucking happen.

That said, it's quite possible that with a proper marketing campaign (if this game didn't have one) would have boosted sales, regardless of how shitty the game was. The loss of promotional materials isn't as big of a deal as a loss of marketing plan. Most materials can be reproduced quickly if necessary, but if she had the only copy of the plan (timelines, contacts, etc.)...that could have caused real problems. The question is how can they quantify that? Or qualify that?