Please know that I, and many others greatly appreciate what you and the rest of the people in Stardock do. No matter how tempting it is, please don't succumb to the increasing trend of spitting out crap games, with no justification of DRM, and with the sole intent of of making games solely for money. Think of money as an added bonus to your creative vision, yes it is necessary, but don't degrade your creative impulse for more money.

And with that, thanks again for your innovation in the Gaming industry, I along with others will continue to support, Stardock and Impulse, with integrity regarding our money, just as you've shown integrity regarding DRM, anti-piracy, fair pricing, and games that are not only a joy to play out of the box, but further down the line as well.

What a nice way to say that...

SUE THEIR A**ES!!!  

Frogboy has already flatly stated that isn't going to happen.

I dont like to talk on behave of anyone, but i dont think is in stardocks nor GS/EB best interest to sue anyone, whether the mistake was malicious or not.

Why sue? I mean, the losses are far less than the expenses of said lawsuit.

My cynical view: Gamestop know their power.. they are betting on companies not wanting to miss out on the massive distribution opportunities that gamestop can provide. Thus they release early, earn more sales than some of their competitors and are likely 90% sure that relative minnows like Stardock can't do anything about it.

I can't wait till digital distribution eats further into the games market, and Gamespot are instead the ones bending over the barrel (so to speak). However, who knows if things will go that way. With any luck, console manufacturers will find a way to stop resale of console games - that will hurt Gamestop's sales the most.

Even if Stardock weren't minnows, what would be done?

This isn't the first time, I imagine, Gamestop has released games early, even from bigger publishers. What has been the outcome for Gamestop on those occasions?

Looks like Pirate Bay STILL doesn't have a copy up. This is WIN.

@hiddenranbir: I've never heard of ANY reaction myself, and I know they broke street date during the Fall/Winter for a few games.

Hehe. Awesome. I had a good chuckle at Reg's child-like attempt at self-apotheosis.

While I never liked the idea of litigation over petty issues, part of me would still like to see the person responsible for this drama recieve a well-deserved slap up the back of the head... And then I'd like that act to be filmed, and posted on Youtube for the world to see.

Call me strange, but that seems more like true justice to me.

Once again, just want to say props to Stardock and GPG for putting so much effort into releasing a game properly and doing it well rather than spewing out something every few months that is absolute garbage. You guys have my support all the way. Well done.

Well... your game has been officialy pirated less then hour ago.

To be honest it's just a bit surprising that it happened that late. It was unavoidable never the less.

I'll pick up my copy as soon as it arrives at my store. And i think you guys shouldn't worry about it being pirated. I wish to you that Demigod will be a success. And i wish it to myself since your success means bigger community and more of your support for us!

I'll always support you guys and I'm slowly getting people to pre-order the game with me, even though I wasn't in the beta and have no idea how good the game will be. Stardock and Gas Powered.... amazing producer and developer, and I'm really glad you're sticking to the Gamer's Bill of Rights, I wish more companies would start using it. The lack of DRM is like icing on the cake for me, I don't feel like I'm being treated as a potential criminal.

After telling my friends about Stardock and linking them to some news articles I've actually made a few decide not to pirate the game to see if it's good, and instead just buy it to support you guys. Everyone is impressed!

Like Gabe Newell (Founder of Valve) once said, when buying a game, you're not just buying a product, you're are hiring a service.

Look at the Team Fortress 2 model, they are constantly adding new content for legitimate customers, the warez version is just a piece of junk since it has become obsolete and boring.

For more in-depth info, see his DICE 2009 Keynote

I've been playing the pirated version of the game for a few hours now, after seing a "Demigod was leaked!" thread on a forum. I've never even heard of this game before today.

Since I just got a job, I think Demigod will be one of the first games I buy with my own hard-earned cash.

Happy Easter Stardock, and fellow Demigod fans. I can't wait to see everyone online tomorrow so that the real gaming can begin. (I must admit, the pressure from friends and co-workers who all picked up the game at Gamestop on Saturday finally made me cave in and I said I would ONLY by the game if they had a CE version... and they did... so yea.. I am sorry =\ ) Anyway, the game is PHENOM and I will be an avid part of this community for a while I am sure!

-Mord

 Frogboy.. this is not a new topic and you know how the pirate world works.  I will be the first one to admit that I have bootlegged games among other things.  However, one thing is certain.. I normally just delete any game I don't play and for the most part (or it gets abandoned.. since most bad games just don't get played) most good games get purchased.  I have a library of over 100 games (purchased) and tons of movies and music (which were purchased as well).  It is a sticky situation and I think the powers that be need to figure out a good conventional way to make a profit from the mass media replication.  For example.. with the music industry, instead of the RIAA suing individuals.. perhaps a network distribution where everyone is onboard needs to be made and music price needs to be reduce from a dollar to 15-20 cents.  This way more people buy, more money gets made, and less lawyers get rich.  The system is broken and most people are villanized where if given an option they would buy the media.  The biggest issue is that the big wigs at the top are scared and don't understand the technology.  Instead of embracing it, they are trying to stop it.  Just my two cents (and for the record.. I purchased demigod - and at 59.90 through impulse)

Just out of interest, why the decision to release the demo -after- the game goes on sale?

I believe they wanted to spend more time and effort polishing and refining the actual game prior to the release date/deadline. If they spent their last moments developing a demo application, that would logically result in a slightly buggier/shoddier release product.

I'm sorry to say that some people had already downloaded and played the game... by ilegal means... so i guess this article is quite wrong.

I'm waiting for the download.

Yea the Demigod retail version has been put up on some illegal sites, I just searched it and found a full Demigod version avalaible for download.

However its singleplayer only which is missing out on 90% of the experience. If anything they will download Demigod, love it, want to play online, and so buy it

Cehan i don't see how it's "surprising", the thing with major AAA-titles is that they're usually making a lot more copies, as well as sending them out in advance of the release.

Gamestop didn't get their shipments until April 10th, 4 days before release, AAA-titles may ship out the game even up to a month in advance, though usually atleast a week.

The game was actually leaked a few hours after the original post, so basically it was leaked somewhere between 1-2 days after it was available in stores.

Leaks in the manufactoring process is very rare these days, usually because of the limited amount of people with access to the physical media.

Bingo.

There are unfortunately a couple groups of people who won't buy the game.  Those who aren't terribly interested in it, but if someone gives them a copy they might tinker with it, and those who are spoiled jerks who feel the world owes them a favor.

But there are those of us who I love gaming on the PC.  And though I may be more mature (old?!  never! mature, I choose to say), than some of the folks here, I genuinely feel that if I don't buy the product, who the heck is going to make it?

Why in the heck would Stardock and Gas Powered Games pay employess, purchase software tools to code, pay for office facilities, artists, accounting folks, HR folks, etc. etc. if they weren't going to make a profit?!

Charge a fair price, release a quality product and flourish.  And not having to deal with crap like what came with Spore?!  Icing on the cake!

Nevermind that Stardock's games are beyond cool (I only owned Sins of a Solar Empire before now), but there is just something about the company as a whole that reeks of trustworthiness. To be honest, the copy protection thing for me isn't really an issue. What I appreciate is the quality of the games and the knowledge that Stardock will support a game long after it's released (Sins is another good example).

Kudos Stardock. You're a classy company, and I'm a loyal customer who will always keep a close eye out for any game you're putting your name on!

Which of us in particular?

I'm a PC only gamer myself. A couple of months away from 30 so maybe I'm just fixed in my ways. I did try to get into consoles... they just never seemed to provide the same kind of experience that you get from PC games. As I see heavily console influenced titles released on PC (if they are released at all on that platform) its good to know there are still some companies that get it.

Happiness is a mouse, a keyboard and a 300 page manual