Stardock addresses Demigod online issues, GameStop

In theory, creating an online game that works on day one shouldn't be that hard. In practice, it's a task that has stymied countless developers and contributed to the failure of many a promising game. The latest release to run into online issues at launch is the Stardock-published, Gas Powered Games-developed PC real-time strategy title Demigod.

While reviewers may be taking exception to those online problems, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell is assuring customers that the publisher is well aware of the issues and taking steps to address them. In an open letter posted on Stardock's online storefront, Wardell apologized to gamers for the problems, which range from overloaded servers and mismatched matchmaking to connectivity bugs.

"While I can say that there are, even as I type, many hundreds of people playing online together, mostly in Skirmish and Pantheon games, there are many hundreds of others having trouble connecting to people in custom games or having skirmish or pantheon doing something odd due to the server overload," Wardell wrote. "We are working to address it and what I mean by that is that we intend to release another update this week to deal with as much of what we've found as possible."

As one part of an effort to make it up to frustrated fans, Wardell said a number of Stardock developers will be busy playing Demigod multiplayer matches online later this week, offering tips and tutorials for those trying to wrap their heads around the game's finer points.

The online issues weren't the only headache associated with Demigod's launch. As Wardell (aka Frogboy) posted on the game's official forums, specialty retailer GameStop broke Demigod's official street date by a number of days. Wardell said that forced developers to come in on scheduled days off to set up and configure multiplayer servers for the early adopters. Stardock also released the digitally distributed edition of the game early for preorders and beta testers.