Stormgate still has potential, says CEO, but recovery is "extremely difficult"

Stormgate made a lot of promises when it launched into early access around this time last year, and it didn't deliver on many of them. A group of ex-Blizzard devs teaming up for a self-published, StarCraft-style RTS sounded too good to be true. Unfortunately, it was. The initial game was "undercooked" (Frost Giant Studios' CEO Tim Morten's own words), and received terrible feedback. Things didn't improve much with the full launch last month. Morten has since taken to LinkedIn to explain what went wrong, what he'd do differently, and why Cyberpunk 2077 and No Man's Sky are "unicorns" among games.

Stormgate made no secrets of going after StarCraft's crown as one of the best RTS games of all time. It focused heavily on competitive PvP, and gave each faction enough juice to be a worthy pick in any potential meta. However, things didn't get off to a good start and, despite major updates, they never really picked up after that.

Stormgate currently sits at 49% positive reviews on Steam, landing it a 'mixed' rating. However, recent reviews are in an even worse state, with just 39% positive feedback and a 'mostly negative' rating. This suggests that players aren't jiving with the full release.

Morten has an idea why. "Stormgate launched into Early Access undercooked, which is my responsibility," he writes on LinkedIn. "Product scope, implementation speed, and available time/capital all played a role, compounded by some regrettable communication moments."

If he had his time again, Morten says he would "limit the early access scope to campaign and 1v1, and only add more modes later once those modes were polished," as well as being more rigid with deadlines.

He acknowledges that Frost Giant "overhyped and underdelivered," but believes Stormgate still has "genuine potential." However, it's not easy to realize that potential after such a rocky start.

"Any launch, even when labeled Early Access, produces a binary outcome that rarely changes," he says. "Recovering from a bad launch is extremely difficult. No Man's Sky and Cyberpunk are effectively unicorns."

If Stormgate were to launch for the first time today, in a different economic climate to that of a year ago, Morten believes Frost Giant would need to implement a "more radical production approach," which includes outsourced labor from outside North America and the use of AI.

Employing a chatbot to save Stormgate is a bold strategy, if a cheap one. Sadly, so many problems in game development stem from funding. Even with Stormgate's double-A budget, a terrible first impression, poor communication with Kickstarter backers, and a disastrous full launch have left it with an average of just 89 players this month.

If you want to play a competitive RTS that's not Stormgate, check out our list of the best strategy games on PC. Our picks for the best free PC games are also great. All 100 of them.

Are you one of Stormgate's 89 remaining players? Let us know in our community Discord server, where readers and staff discuss what it takes to fix a fundamentally flawed videogame.