14 DAY TRIAL // Big Huge Games, known for developing epic RTS title Supreme Commander and its expansion Forged Alliance, and Stardock, mainly known for publishing recent strategy hit Sins of a Solar Empire and TBS revival game Galactic Civilization 2, have announced an agreement which gives Stardock the exclusive rights to publish, both as a retail package and as a digital download, the upcoming Demigod.
Stardock says that Demigod will be one of the first games to launch on its digital distribution system, Impulse, which is due to be presented soon. The game will be launched without copy protection other than a serial that offers access to updates and other free content. Stardock is known for its innovative approach to game distribution and game piracy, an approach that treats pirates as non-existing customers while offering a lot of support and updates to paying players.
Brad Wardell, founder of Stardock, detailed the importance of free content for paying players, by saying "We're well-known for releasing free updates with new features. We don't want that to go away. With Demigod, we're going to be doing free updates for that for a year. We don't want someone paying five dollars for horse armor or something like that. We want people to get that sort of thing for free."
Demigod will let the player take control of one Demigod, a gigantic creature of awesome power, and guide it to victory on epic battlefields against other Demigods and their minions. As fights are won, each Demigod gets new powers and new items to use. It is said the game is inspired by Warcraft III mod Defense of the Ancients, while also incorporating a lot of RPS and RPG elements in its core gameplay.
Chris Taylor, the head of Big Huge Games, has stated that: "Forging our new partnership with Stardock is a big deal for all of us at GPG, and we couldn't be more excited about it. Not only do we have a proven retail publisher, but we get to partner with a pioneer in the digital distribution space... a company that totally understands what kind of experience our customer wants and the quality game they demand. The whole proposition is truly refreshing."