About Stardock® a Quick Guide to GDC 2015
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About Stardock® A Quick Guide to GDC 2015 History Stardock was founded in 1993 by college student Brad Wardell to help pay for school. Since then, it has grown into a leader in Windows consumer software development and publishing with millions of users worldwide. Headquartered in Michigan, Stardock employees over 100 people worldwide and continues to specialize in consumer software development and publishing. Notable products Stardock today is best known for both its desktop enhancements such as Start8, Fences, ObjectDock and WindowBlinds as well as its PC games such as Sins of a Solar Empire, Galactic Civilizations and Fallen Enchantress. What’s next Stardock pioneered digital distribution technology which led to the creation of its Impulse® digital distribution platform that it sold to GameStop in 2011. Stardock used that capital to invest in a series of promising start-ups. In 2015, the results of Stardock’s investment initiative have begun to become public such as Soren Johnson’s Offworld Trading Company, Bruce Shelley’s Servo and now Oxide’s Ashes of the Singularity game projects. 2015 also sees Stardock release two new games from its own studio, the fantasy strategy game Sorcerer King and the latest installment to its critically acclaimed Galactic Civilizations series. These initiatives are the leading edge of a series of new companies and titles that are currently in development. Road Map: Major releases 2Q2015 Sorcerer King release 2Q2015 Galactic Civilizations III release 3Q2015 Servo scheduled release 1Q2016 Offworld Trading Company release 1Q2016 Ashes of the Singularity release 2Q2016 [unannounced game release] 2Q2016 [unannounced game release] 3Q2016 [unannounced game release] 3Q2016 [unannounced game release] GDC 2015 notables 1. Announcing Ashes of the Singularity – demonstrating how next-gen tech lets you create a new type of game 2. Stardock/Oxide is the world’s leader in DirectX 12 technology 3. Announcing Servo – a revolutionary new type of RTS 4. Stardock support of Vulkan (OpenGL Next) technology. 5. Stardock’s building of PEOs to support start-up game studios 6. Offworld Trading Company’s early accuess and growth 7. Galactic Civilizations III: What 64-bit means for strategy gamers 8. Sorcerer King: The effect of blending industry talent to create a new type of game Management team Brad Wardell, President & CEO Brad continues to run the company he founded. He is also the CEO of Oxide Games and the President of Mohawk Games where he is able to use his experience as both a software developer and businessman to help the new companies reach their next phase. Wardell is best known as an AI developer for PC strategy games but has also been the primary designer of such products as ObjectDock, Start8, Multiplicity, Galactic Civilizations and more recently Ashes of the Singularity and Sorcerer King. Angela Marshall, Chief Operating Officer Angela has been with Stardock for over 20 years and has helped manage its growth from a small, 5 person company to where it is today. In addition to overseeing the day to day operations of the company, she is also the in charge of Stardock’s software operations that includes Object Desktop, Start10, Fences, etc. Kristin Hatcher, General Manager Kristin oversees the day to day execution of all projects within Stardock. With years of industry experience in marketing, communication and relationship management, Ms. Hatcher ensures that the many moving parts of this plan continue forward smoothly. Chris Kowal. Vice President, Business Development. With decades of experience in taking products and maximizing their profit potential, Mr. Kowal is leading the effort to ensure that Stardock’s new assets maximize their revenue potential. Derek Paxton. Vice President, Digital Entertainment. Derek has years of industry experience both in the enterprise software segment as well as PC games. He leads Stardock’s efforts to produce the highest quality PC games and recruit the necessary talent to ensure that. .