Stardock would rather make a loss than alienate gamers

Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has said redeeming his company's products in PC gamers' eyes is more important than a projected financial loss on Elemental: War of Magic.

Speaking to Gamasutra, Wardell said the studio's primary goal was to satisfy its end users.

"(O)ur objective is to spend what is necessary to ensure that the game meets the expectations of our customers," he said. "It is crucial in the long term that PC gamers know that the Stardock name means quality and support."

The cost of ongoing development to bring Elemental up to scratch is expected to outweigh early sales revenue.

"Elemental made its money back on day one and has continued to be profitable to this point. However, based on our projections we anticipate by the end of second quarter 2011 that Elemental will end up losing money overall," Wardell explained.

The much-criticised Elemental: War of Magic released with crippling bugs; Stardock's recent measures to bolster the much-improved strategy title including hiring Civilization V designer Jon Shafer and author Dave Stern to assist with continuing development.