What is Stardock? Well, if you decide to visit Stardock’s website today, you will see various things: my desktop, a collection of desktop enhancement applications; my games, a gathering of computer games; and my tools, a slew of tools designed to assist computer users. This is a vast amount of applications, but it is even more interesting in finding out how it all came to be.

It is quite difficult to define Stardock in a sentence or two. The company is well-known for its desktop enhancement software, but, ironically, it all started with the development of a PC game called Galactic Civilizations.

Stardock earned very little money—if any at all—for their efforts with Galactic Civilizations, and not because the game didn’t generate money (I have seen it mentioned that the title made over $1 million), but because the publisher turned out to be a fraud.¹ I’m sure that this, understandably, was not the start that the company had in mind.

Thankfully, it was all a moot point because the user base stuck with the company. These dedicated followers provided opportunities to the company and allowed for the release of expansion packs. Eventually, it lead to the development of more games and enhancement software.

Desktop Enhancement

Gameasutra recently interviewed the Stardock CEO Brad Wardell:

The reason we focused more on desktop enhancements really has to do with the channels. With PC games, you have to be at retail in order to sell enough units to pay for a decent budget. But with desktop enhancements, people are used to buying those online, so we could realistically create and release that kind of software with far fewer resources.

In recent years, as our company has grown and had more capital to make use of, we have begun focusing increasingly on the gaming side of things. There’s a lot of overlap between the two sides of our business, since desktop enhancements are pretty art intensive and require really talented software developers who can also help out on the games as well.

Object Desktop is one of the most well-known desktop enhancement applications released by Stardock. It was almost an essential application for the OS/2 operating system. The product suite’s focus was to allow users to really modify their computer to anyway they wanted. It was a huge success, and one of the most successful applications on OS/2.

A new 2008 version of Object Desktop was recently released, and it is a culmination of Stardock’s best desktop enhancement software: WindowsBlinds, IconPackager, DesktopX, DeskScapes, SoundPackager, and MyColors. Object Desktop Ultimate offers users a few more additional applications: ObjectBar, RightClick, SkinStudio Pro, TweakVista, IconDeveloper, WindowFX, and Keyboard LaunchPad. Stardock has been able to keep up with the times; Windows Vista and “Windows 7″ are surely prime targets for Stardock’s desktop enhancement products.

However, before all this came to be, the company had to make the tough decision of moving to the Windows operating system. By 2000, Brad Wardell decided that it was time to move on as IBM’s OS/2 was a sinking ship. However, Object Desktop sold very well on the Windows operating system, and, truth be told, was probably one of the best decisions the company could have made.

Game Development

Before long, Stardock was back to developing PC (and Mac) games—Galactic Civilizations made a return in 2003. Most of the revenue was generated through Stardock’s digital distribution site TotalGaming.net, and it was enough to keep the company moving forward. It lead to the development of one of the most successful games for Stardock.

In 2006, Stardock Entertainment released Galactic Civilizations II: Dread Lords. This title really solidified Stardock as a serious identity in the game industry. It featured advanced graphics, amazing “4X”² game-play, revolutionary artificial intelligence, great non-linear action, and fantastic replayability.

They also developed The Corporate Machine; Take-Two Interactive published the game. The game was released in 2001, but it was also a relatively successful title. The point was to take on your opponents and reign supreme in the corporate world. The success of this title allowed Stardock to continue work on the Galactic Civilizations titles.

The Political Machine was recently released by Stardock and published by Ubisoft. The game appears to build its roots from The Corporate Machine. It is quite an enjoyable experience. The game really goes in-depth with the running of a political campaign, and I learned a from the short time I spent with the demo. Political and strategy gamers are sure to make this game a success.

All these titles are really niche games. Surely anything Stardock develops on its own is will never be serious competition to the likes of Halo, but I have enjoyed every title I have played from Stardock Entertainment—Galactic Civilizations II in particular.

It seems fitting that the success of Stardock’s games would lead the company to actually publishing great games developed by others.

Game Publishing

Most recently, Ironclad Games and Stardock Entertainment have teamed up to release Sins of a Solar Empire. Just as its turn-based equivalent, Sins of a Solar Empire has been a hit for the company. The only difference is that Stardock is now publishing the game. Essentially, Stardock provides the resouces, markets the title, and handles a majority of the other stuff.

Stardock went a step further with this game though. The company actually assisted with the development of the title and allowed Ironclad Games to pariticpate in the marketing of the game. These events rarely happen in the game industry, and it is just another way that Stardock has really done some amazing things.

Sins, while not selling more than Galactic Civilizations II, was a successful title. I’m sure that the game will see many expansions and sequeals in the future. I’d actually be impressed if Stardock purchased and merged Ironclad Games.

Stardock is already onto something else with a new game being developed by Gas Powered Games. Demigod is looking to be something truly special and unique.

From the official Demigod website, information about the new title is made public:

Demigod is a team based action game with RPG, RTS and fighting game elements. Players choose their heroes and turn the tides of epic battles being fought in fantastic worlds. Single player revolves around the player choosing their demigod and working their way up a tournament style ladder to ascend to god status. The multiplayer experience forces teams to work together to defeat the enemy stronghold. The Supreme Commander engine gives us scale of size and scale of numbers unprecedented in a fantasy game. Colossal giants knock droves of tiny soldiers from the all-encompassing ancient battlefields.

It might be wrong of me to jump the gun, but I am confident that this title is going to be a financial success for the company.

Only the Beginning

Stardock has quite the story³, and it is going to be interesting to see where it goes in the future. It is a true success story with a difficult beginning, but the ability to strive under pressure.

What I really like about Stardock is the fact that the company really pays attention to its customers. I’m mostly familiar with their gaming products, but the company has created entire communities like WinCustomize for their users. The CEO is also really passionate about his work.

If you have never heard of Stardock, I am certain that it will change with time. It is a company to keep your eyes on. I would really recommend you check out Galactic Civilizations II or Sins of a Solar Empire if you are into turn-based strategy or real-time strategy games or Object Desktop if you want to take desktop customization to the next level.