I am glad you made this.

Retail and record labels need to die. as soon as possible. They were living off your hard work.

I have no problem pqaying the same money for FE to you rather then to some ppl who just sit around shelving stuff...

And,

is it really true FE doesn't have multiplayer?

Can it be added later on?

Because you think that Steam don't take his share too... the share of Steam is around 30%... yet it better that the almost 70% of retail...

Best was when Stardock owned Impulse or will be with the new stardock central... 100% is for the devs...

About people who have pre-order Rebellion on the stardock store, it was wrote that they can redeem it on Steam later... Well, no real choice since steamwork will be integrated... for the redeem step, will it be free or people will need to pay a supplement of 10$ or so ( share of steam )... ask it because redeem game on Steam is not always free...

I call BS on that - do you have any source for such nonsense?

Certain games sold through retail channels can be redeemed as titles for user's library within Steam by entering a product code within the software.For games that incorporate Steamworks, users can purchase redemption codes from other vendors, and redeem these in the Steam client to add the title to their library.

Well, it is somehow logical... if you buy a game on Steam, Steam have a share of the selling... if you buy it somewhere else ( stardock store ) and the redeem is free, they receive nothing...

In the majority of cases, it is the one who have sell the game ( stardock store by example ) who deliver at their own cost a Steam code who allow to redeem a game on Steam...Like Steam buy serial to Stardock, Stardock will need to buy Steam code for redeem Rebellion...

Well, everything is possible... nobody know the term of the deal between Stardock and Steam for Rebellion... and it is why i ask about it...

Your post seemed to suggest that customer  might have to pay for activation of Steam CD key.

One of advantages of Steamworks is that they dont pay anything for activation of CD key, so they can sell Steam CD keys from their website and take 100% of money soent by customer and customer gets Steam CD key which he will activate on Steam.

[URL=http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/163/1738.jpg/][/URL]

 screenshot abote was taken from Steamworks pdf

More Steamworks games is being sold, more customers Steam has and lots of those users make future purchases via Steam and from those transactions Valve takes 30% (70% goes to publisher developer).

Forbes estimate put Valve income at 2.5-3 billion $ per year and profit in hundreds of millions $ - not bad for company with around 270 employees

If the serial is a steam serial, there will be no problem at all... my concern was only about people who have pre-order ( and will pay ) on Stardock store... a redemption code will be needed from Stardock for redeem the game in the Steam client... will be these redemption code for free or for a fee ???

As for the 30% taken by Steam, it is not a Golden rule... it is a case by case... it is very possible that because soase have sold very good in the past, that review of the game was very positive that Stardock have can negociate a bigger share... The release of Rebellion is not a risk like the original release of sins, where Stardock was the only one to believe in the game...

And as i wrote before, i am a steam customer too... for me, there was never really other alternative... too much "US only" on Impulse and really bad story with a few other ( by example, Kalypso digital version of Armada 2526... a problem with a patch have mess up my game installation... not possible to download the game again unless i purchase a extended download thing... something like this cannot happen with Steam )... Sure, i don't trust steam, sure i have my share of bad story but it is better that nothing at all... Personaly, i will have like that soase remain with the upcoming new stardock central... Yes, i am unhappy with the actual move but it will not stop me to buy my prefered game when it is released ( have no credit card for pre-order, only pay-pal and bank card... in europe, more and more people use online banking for pay on the internet )...

As Steam profit, Stardock was making a lot of money with Impulse too... well, they have sell it and you know the actual result... let say that valve make the same move, concentrate on their own games and sell Steam to some moron... what will happen ? I have no problem with Stardock using steam ( like recently with the release of trinity on Steam ), i have problem with the steam exclusive thing...

You take the game you've purchased elsewhere (not from Steam), log into Steam, enter your activation code/cd key under "Add a new game", Steam checks the code and then adds the game to your library.  Not only does it not cost extra money, but it takes all of 15 seconds.  I have added many Amazon digital download games that are also sold on Steam to my Steam library this way.

Only for valve games and retail CD key from third party listed in the following list : https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7480-WUSF-3601

In the case of Rebellion, there will not be a retail version ( opening post )... only a digital download buy on Steam and a digital download pre-ordered on Stardock store... so, in this case, the following apply :

For games that incorporate Steamworks, users can purchase redemption codes from other vendors, and redeem these in the Steam client to add the title to their library.

Your digital download purchase on Amazon are simply game with Steam serial... in their description, you find something like "A Steam account is required for installation and online play"...

In some way, it is like Stardock sell serial to Steam, and Steam sell some of these serial to Amazon... Not sure that Steam contract will allow Stardock to sell directly serial to Amazon for a game who need to be used on Steam since it will cut them from their 30% share...

Well, like i wrote before, everything is possible... maybe Stardock have make a deal with steam, so that key from pre-order on Stardock store will work on Steam directly... i don't know, you don't know, nobody know... in fact, only Stardock know but they don'y inform their customer or potential customer... on the stardock store page for rebellion, it is always writen "Impulse::Reactor support for chat, friends, achievements and more." ( https://store.stardock.com/product/ESD-SDE-W011 )... if some people have not make a review article on the upcoming Rebellion, we will have never know about these Steam thing... not a very honest move to change one of the game feature without informing people who have pre-order the game, people who discover it by reading a external review article...

As car analogy are often used on these forum... you order Rebellion with features like :

and you end up with a Rebellion steam version with features like :

only useful for maybe 0.1% of the actual customer who build... sorry, play ... online

I wanted a Fallen Enchantress Collectors edition Box too. Granted I'm already getting a free copy, but I would have gladly shelled out some more money to put up a cool CE box on my collection wall. It sees less and less love these days.

That's OK. I prefer to buy retail boxes for brand new $50-60 games, but I'm perfectly willing to buy digital copies if it's a company I really like or if the price is low enough. (I buy all my PSP games digitally, and I will buy digital stardock games for sure new.)

So I'm still not clear on something:  Will we at least still be able to purchase a physical boxed copy of FE from Stardock? 

As it turns out, retail is starting to die out anyway:

GAME over on the High Street?

Not that I especially want my local store to close, but as many people have pointed out, they're a tad overpriced.

I hope you do.  It's little stuff like this that brought me along, Brad.  

It started with you guys helping out on Demigod and jumping into DD with Impulse.  Then, I heard how much gamers loved Sins.  While I tried the demo and didn't like it, I was amazed that a non-EA company could still compete so well.  

Then WoM launched.  It was rough, but the moment you stepped up and stated you were going to discount the future Elemental games for WoM buyers, I knew I had to buy it. I'll be honest, it was like a good album.  Not a pop album that you immediately love after one song and then quickly get bored, but rather something much more complex.  I initially hated it...  but then, it grew on me.  I started exploring, and with each patch the game grew on me.  The next thing I know, I'm having another 4 AM just-one-more-turn,-honey moment with it.

Now FE is coming along, and I can honestly say that I would pay $30 for the game in its current state.  The fact that it is still in only beta 2 is astounding.  The vast majority of design issues that initially pushed me away from WoM are gone.

Keep doing things right.  

FX Interactive (publisher company) keeps selling new boxed games at 20 euros (like the upcoming "Yesterday" by Pendulo Studios, creators of "The Next Big Thing" or "Runaway"). It has been like that for years and they are not out business and still make profit. And they are so shameless as to dare to translate the manuals and voiceovers to spanish, offer for free some DLC included with the base game or similar stuff (those details depend of the game though, like Tropico 4 coming with some DLC or what you call "The Next Big Thing" including for free the previous installment of the game*). I'm quite sure that they have to suffer the same cut from retailer as other publishers.

But yeah, the blame is only in the retail stores... or maybe not.

* known here as Hollywood Monsters

PC Game Retail is currently a joke.  I don't understand why every publisher isn't going in this direction.