A street date broken by GameStop late last week had Demigod publisher Stardock scrambling to get enough multiplayer matchmaking servers up to handle the sudden rush of players.
GameStop was selling the real-time strategy PC game from Gas Powered Games as early as last Friday, days ahead of the planned April 15th street date. Those wondering why street dates are imposed need look no further than the post on the official Demigod forums, which details a ruined Easter weekend for many Stardock employees.
it was Easter weekend. And many of us had just finished a good solid 8 weeks of massive crunch and were looking forward to the weekend to recover. Instead, we found ourselves back at work having to turn on and configure the multiplayer matchmaking servers (we had enough for a beta but not for thousands of people).
The post also raises concerns that the early release maximizes piracy, as the game was only available through the one retail channel for several days, but Stardock looks on the bright side..."The good news, however, is that we'll get to actually see the effects of piracy". When life gives you lemons...
To help ease players' pains, Stardock released the game on their Impulse early, so the game is now available for purchase online.
Demigod is early [Demigod Forums]