Editing Stardock (section)

==History==
Stardock was founded by college student [[Brad Wardell]] and named after a major city in [[Raymond E. Feist]]'s ''[[The Riftwar Cycle|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|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.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=14842 | title=Stardock's Wardell Talks ''GalCiv'', Indie Power | access-date=2008-06-17 | archive-date=2008-10-25 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081025095113/http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=14842 | url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Windows era (1998–present)===
The newer, smaller Stardock was heavily reliant on the [[Social capital|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 [[Skin (computing)|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 [[GUI widget|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.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060405/wardell_01.shtml |title=Gamasutra 'Postmortem' April 5, 2006 |publisher=Gamasutra.com |date=2006-04-05 |access-date=2012-02-14 |archive-date=2006-06-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615122044/http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20060405/wardell_01.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> 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|date=March 2017}}

In 2010 Q3, Stardock was forced into [[layoff]]s due to the unexpectedly poor launch of ''[[Elemental: War of Magic]]''.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://forums.elementalgame.com/395168/page/1/#2755755
|author=[[Brad Wardell]] (posting as Frogboy)
|title=Any truth to the rumor on shacknews?
|date=3 September 2010
|access-date=4 September 2010
|work=Stardock Forums
|archive-date=7 August 2011
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110807204439/http://forums.elementalgame.com/395168/page/1/#2755755
|url-status=live
}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{cite web|last=Gallegos|first=Anthony|title=Righting a Wrong -- Elemental: Fallen Enchantress|date=4 April 2012 |url=http://uk.ign.com/articles/2012/04/04/righting-a-wrong-elemental-fallen-enchantress|publisher=IGN|access-date=2013-12-30|archive-date=2023-02-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230227061405/https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/04/04/righting-a-wrong-elemental-fallen-enchantress|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 2012, Stardock successfully launched ''Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion'' to positive reviews.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/sins-of-a-solar-empire-rebellion/1225090p1.html|title=GameSpy: Sins of a Solar Empire: Rebellion Review - Page 1|website=pc.gamespy.com|access-date=14 April 2018|archive-date=26 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170226014803/http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/sins-of-a-solar-empire-rebellion/1225090p1.html|url-status=live}}</ref> 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. During development, there were ongoing legal disputes with the original creators of the Star Control franchise.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.polygon.com/pc/2019/6/16/18680998/star-control-stardock-lawsuit-copyright-takedown-brad-wardell-paul-reiche-settlement-gog-steam-pc |title=Star Control legal tangle unwound with friendly agreement, creators say - Polygon |website=[[Polygon (website)|Polygon]] |date=16 June 2019 |access-date=2023-02-03 |archive-date=2023-02-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230203212509/https://www.polygon.com/pc/2019/6/16/18680998/star-control-stardock-lawsuit-copyright-takedown-brad-wardell-paul-reiche-settlement-gog-steam-pc |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/stardock-acquires-star-control-rights-in-fire-sale-plans-reboot/|title=Stardock acquires Star Control rights in fire sale, plans reboot|date=2013-07-24|website=arstechnica.com|access-date=14 April 2018|archive-date=2018-04-15|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180415064141/https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2013/07/stardock-acquires-star-control-rights-in-fire-sale-plans-reboot/|url-status=live}}</ref>