“Once upon a time, the gamers loved Stardock because they released a game called Sins of a Solar Empire, and it didn’t have DRM and it was a good game, and the gamers were pleased. Then Stardock released a game called Elemental: War of Magic, and it didn’t have DRM either but it was a bad game, and the gamers were not pleased. And so it came to pass that Stardock was no longer loved, for that is the way of gamers, but maybe one day, they’ll make another good game and be loved again.”

~ The Book of Things, Chapter 10, versus 26-28

That day might come soon too, if Stardock’s plans work out. The studio is already working on an Elemental sequel, and this time, they’re planning to make a good game.

“From a business perspective, what we’re doing is really dumb,” Stardock boss Brad Wardell told Gamasutra. “For starters, the Elemental name is tarnished because War of Magic was a mediocre game. So why make an excellent game that has that baggage?”

That’s because, he explained, the company owes it to “those people who trusted” the company the first time around.

“We owe our audience, we owe them the assurance that if they give us their hard-earned money, then we owe them a really good product. We’ve all worked hard for our great reputation, and this is our chance to make good on that,” he said.

Part of that involves giving the sequel, Elemental: Fallen Enchantress, away free to people who bought the first game during its turbulent first few months of launch, so that’s pretty cool of them. There’s more info about that on the official Elemental site, linked below.

Source: Gamasutra, Elemental site