Stardock CEO says Star Control reboot could feature "Dota-style" multiplayer

In July 2013, Stardock announced it acquired the rights for the classic PC space adventure franchise, Star Control. In a recent interview with Ars Techinca, Stardock CEO Brad Wardell talked about the progress the company has made in last six months, saying the reboot might feature a "Dota-style" multiplayer and that the game's story will serve as a prequel to the classic PC series.

Stardock is mostly known for 4X strategy games like Sins of a Solar Empire, while Star Control II (wildly considered the best in the series) was a more unusual mix of space combat, adventure, and strategy genres. In the interview, Wardell makes clear that the reboot will be more like the latter. He also revealed that it will be built in Oxide Games' Nitrous engine.

"It'll be an expansion on what was in Star Control 2, except we would like to support more sophisticated battle arenas and up to 8 players," Wardell told Ars Technica. "We picture there being a lot of different modes for Super Melee, ranging from classic to Dota-style super melee."

Originally released on PC in 1992 and later on 3DO, Star Control II's Super Melee mode allowed players to battle each other in ship-to-ship combat.

Stardock acquired the rights for Star Control from Atari when the publisher auctioned off its portfolio shortly after going bankrupt. Wardell also said that Stardock will not even consider talking about a release date for the Star Control reboot until 2015.