Impulse bought by Gamestop? Where do I get my refund?

I doubt you'd be able to get a refund on everything you have (believe me, I'm in the same boat as you :P), but you can email sales@stardock.com and have them cancel your Rebellion preorder if you wish.

If this is true, I sure feel let down by Stardock and will regretfully be uninstalling Impulse.  Guess I'll be waiting for a physical copy of Rebellion (if one will exist).

Rebellion pre-orders are not moving over to Gamestop; they will remain with Stardock.  Canceling your Rebellion pre-order really won't amount to much in terms of avoiding Gamestop.

So, when can we expect a new version of Stardock Central?

Steam it is for me. =/

I bet there will be a new client called GameDock. Damn, that actually sounds like a good name.

Crap like this always happens on April Fools day. Anyone ever heard of what Filefront went through this date a few years ago?

Guys.... (and gals) you have to remember, IMPULSE was acquired not STARDOCK! What this means is Stardock is STILL going to develop and support their software as they ALWAYS have!  Impulse, Inc. which (from my understanding) is the distribution end to Stardock is what Gamestop has acquired. What this means is NOTHING for us gamers is really changing other than the owner of the Impulse Driven platform that downloads our software to us.

SINS and Elemental will still be the same well developed and well maintained software as Stardock has developed in the past. I for one will stand behind them with this business decision as I have from the purchase of the first SINS game as well as my first download from them back with Galactic Civilizations! (yes, even though my member number is high, this is my second account as my old email got mucked up and it was simply easier to transfer it all to a new account with a new email)

Long live and prosper Stardock Entertainment! (and may that section of the company never sell out! )

what. We must kill impulse when its no longer owned by stardock? wtf?

I traded with Gamestop for years before going digital download only. Never had any trouble with them. Maybe my local store was an exception.

The sky is not falling. Impulse will now be better, have more features and more games. I see this as a good deal for everyone.

Gamestop is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas not far from the DFW Airport. Long before there was a DFW Airport I used to go on country bike rides through that area.

Y'all eat some Jalapeno's and cream cheese with your favorite beverage and chill out!

and maybe this is a GOOD thing.

Gamestop will need to have a better PC game inventory to support this purchase.... So PC gaming isn't dead, not for all companies.

This may be a good thing for the PC game market.

I still don't understand why so many people are jumping ship just because there is a new captain in command, when the new captain hasn't even given a single order, much less turn the ship around or sink it. When this kind of thing happens to pirates what do they do, they take stock of the situation, and make a decision on current info, not the past.

Well, if the new captain was called "Adolf Hitler" and the crew was made of jewish people, i will worry...

Gamestop have a bad history with PC game... and Impulse is only related to PC game... so, i understand that some people are worried...

And by the way, once the ship sink, it is already to late... prevention is something good...

about pirate : "Both the captain and the quartermaster were elected by the crew; they, in turn, appointed the other ship's officers. The captain of a pirate ship was often a fierce fighter in whom the men could place their trust, rather than a more traditional authority figure sanctioned by an elite. However, when not in battle, the quartermaster usually had the real authority. Many groups of pirates shared in whatever they seized; pirates injured in battle might be afforded special compensation similar to medical or disability insurance."

Seem that we have not elected Gamestop...

By the way, history is a good tool... Seem that Stardock have forget their own past... remember about Galatic civilizations from Stardock who was published by Strategy First... these last being the publisher and have never pay most of the royalty to Stardock for the game... was not the main reason why Stardock have begin distribute their own product themself... 

Well, in the case of SINS, the developer is Ironclad, Stardock being the publisher... do it mean that Ironclad will be working with Gamestop now... that Stardock will stop their wonderfull support for these game...

At personal level, i don't worry about Impulse because i don't care of it... i buy mainly my game on Steam because with Impulse, result is mainly "for US only"... maybe with gamestop, Impulse will become a worldwide service...

I worry more about Stardock itself... selling the "cow" who was giving them "milk" each day... without the income of Impulse, as today, maybe all the game department will be fired due to low return from their last game, Elemental... have already fired some of the staff end 2010...

Here where I live GameStop shops are being shut down left and right.

So the fact that GameStop bought impulse does not sit well with me. I am sure they will manage to run it to the ground.

As DavidFalcon pointed out, Gamestop is in the process of acquiring Impulse, not Stardock or Stardock Entertainment.  This won't affect any Sins' customer who purchased the game from retail, direct from Stardock, or one of our partners. It also has no bearing on future publishing or development efforts by Stardock or Ironclad.

people are freaking because of the way gamestop operates and the way they have treated the PC market within their stores

most stores have reduced their PC stocks to just a small rack which they only use for the big sellers like wow and the sims

its pretty bad when walmart carries a bigger PC selection then a company that claims to be all about gaming

Let's give Gamestop a chance with this.  I doubt they purchased Impulse for the purpose of running it into the ground and driving customers to other download services.   It's not like Steam and Impulse are the only games in town.

So can I get Sins and future Stardock games on Steam instead?  Seeing as how apparently you have no stake in Impulse anymore, I can't see why your games should be exclusive.  I would much rather buy from a trustworthy source than Gamestop of all companies.

D2D even?  Something?  Preferably a company that makes its business selling games, not magazine subscriptions and "game insurance"?

I don't see eye-to-eye with Wardell on everything, but I know he at least has the means and motivation to keep Impulse feature-competitive and decent to its customers.  Reasonable customer service, long-term high availability, etc.  Gamestop could implement a system where we're only allowed to install our games X number of times or on X number of machines and it wouldn't surprise anyone.

To the people saying "give them a chance!", I'd remind you that a lot of the people who buy games digitally HAVE given Gamestop a chance - that's why we chose Impulse instead, and now that choice has been invalidated without notice, recourse, or even a reason apart from "I didn't want to do it anymore".

Gamestop's PC section at my local store consists of World of Warcraft, its expansions, and Starcraft 2.  That is literally the extent of their interest in PC gaming, since PC isn't as profitable (largely due to Steam, Impulse, D2D, etc).  What happens when Gamestop decides in a year or two that its Impulse division is underperforming?

I wouldn't say that now after the investment they have made in Impulse and the hiring of high-profile people to run their digital business.  This is something new, people can't keep comparing a brick and mortar store to the digital platform going forward.

i agree. brick and mortar PC game stores died.

gamestop is moving with the times.... albiet very late. But they have many enemies now among PC gamers who were left for dead for a period and i'm sure like everything else impulse was started with good intentions and willl be finished by profit oriented, indy unfriendly, suit wearing, bean counters. I hate companies who have no passion for what they are doing, but do have a passion for money.

Did anyone notice star ruler has ditched impulse like a rash??

P.S. Book stores have gone the same way where I am. All online and all brick and mortar are now in the process of being shut down.

I considered the book stores victims and then realised how much we were being ripped off and carrot & sticked to books.

Now we do not have to buy what they want us to or according to region availability... oh wait they still have publishing regions... Basds

Anybody ever wondered why a digital download from steam costs $60 to americans and $100 to other places? I know, it must cost more for shipping lol. Free trade would rule anything else out.

I have had bad experiences with Game Stop both digitally in the past and still to this day whenever I am in their stores. By and large the people I deal with are very friendly and are generally professional it is their technical support that is frustrating.

I chose Impulse for my gaming, specificaly Sins because it was completely seperate from the 'me-too!' market and it was doing well. This new development is very saddening. Impulse and Stardock are very true to their word and I can trust when they say 'our games will be there!' but now ... I do not trust GameStop. I wish I could and I'm sorry to say that I don't but it leaves a very very poor taste in my mouth. The only way I will be purchasing Rebellion is if there is a boxed game on a store shelf. That way five years down the road I will still be able to play it, even if Gamestop has discontinued their service and I don't have an internet connection. Stardock has been miles above Gamestop tech support in my experience.

Perhaps the one thing that may still keep this afloat is that Impulse refused to sell Steam games which I support ... is this going to continue to be the case?

I'll stick with Stardock and Iron-Clad ... I sure hope we don't need a 'THIRD PARTY' software to install, play, and update Rebellion or our games when they come out ... you know ... like the new third party Impulse. I used Impulse because I trusted the publisher to be competent enough to keep track of my games etc ... while I trust Stardock owned / controlled services, programs & games I do not trust Game Stop.

Sorry guys ... been burned too many times by the 'super big dogs such as GameStop, EA, etc' ...

Sorry to drege up a year old post but this thread kind of addresses the problem I was having with gamestop since it switched from impulse....everything worked fine until gamestop took over the impulse icon on my desk.

I tried to update my copies of entrenchment, diplomacy in anticipation of Rebellion - but something happened and nothing will update on gamestop.  Then I tried to remove an icon for a game that I had uninstalled a long time ago (and it showed up in 'my games' in gamestop)....well it accidentally uninstalled my original sins game and now I can't play anything because it is saying none of my products are registered.  I've had them on there since they first came out and have my codes....  

Anyone else having this problem?  Can't say it is a suprise since this very thread talks about how poor gamestop is in regards to their support.  Can anyone untangle this massive gamestop mess I am in? 

We're still in the process of getting the individual products up for direct download and on SDC, but if you mail support@stardock.com they may be able to help. Otherwise, you will need to work with GameStop support to correct any Impulse registration issues.

Also note that none of the previous games are needed for Rebellion, so this won't affect it in any way.