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STARCRAFT II SERA T'IL LE DERNIER FAST RTS ? Le cas Stormgate — Transcript

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0:00Hello everyone, Funka here for Comback
0:02TV. Today, a thorny subject, a video we
0:04wish we didn't have to make but we're
0:06going to have to get to it. How to
0:08understand, decipher, and explain the
0:11failure of Stormgate, the Messi of
0:13competitive RTS. If you're interested
0:15in this kind of video, don't hesitate
0:17to subscribe to the channel and support
0:19it with a comment or a little boost on
0:20mobile. It helps a lot. Stormgates, the
0:23RTS wunderkind that killed the genre.
0:25It's now, it's right away. So, intro.
0:49So for those of you who haven't heard
0:51of Stormgate or who don't have all the
0:53information in your head yet, part one,
0:55a little refresher. In October 2020,
0:57Tim Morten, lead producer on Legacy of
1:00the Void, and Tim Campble, designer on
1:02the Red Alert series and Warcraft 3,
1:04founded Frost Giant, a studio whose
1:06ambition was to produce the spiritual
1:08site of Starcraft 2. Between 2020 and
1:10early 2022, the duo managed to raise
1:12more than $ 35 million in investment
1:14from Cacao Games, Riot Games, and
1:16Bitcraft in particular. With this
1:19budget, the two teams recruited a team
1:20of industry and Starcraft 2 veterans.
1:23They notably brought on board the two
1:25lead engineers, the co-op designer, and
1:27the overlay creator. In short, we had a
1:30lot of fun with former Blizzard
1:32employees. The team was solid, the
1:34budget was growing, and in June 2022,
1:36Frost Giant announced its game during a
1:38segment at the Summer Game Fest with a
1:40cinematic introducing the first two
1:42races of Stormgate. The reception was
1:44mixed. The cinematics are not in the
1:46league of Blizzard cinematics. The
1:48characters have a fairly deliberate
1:49cartoonish look, but we have not yet
1:51seen the image of the game and the RTS
1:53community, empty of a new game that
1:54could replace Starcraft 2, is
1:56legitimately excited about the project.
1:58Indeed, Frost Giant seems to be
2:00proposing a very ambitious game
2:02designed around four development
2:04pillars which will be the 4 Cs. 1 the
2:07campaign, 2 the competitive, 3 the
2:10cooperative and 4 the custom games to
2:15try to conquer the hearts of RTS fans.
2:19First pillar, the campaign. It is
2:21assumed to want to develop a real
2:23mythology for the three races announced
2:25in Stormgate. Adding heroes and
2:27conflicts to them, all to give
2:28substance to the protagonists of this
2:31new universe. Second pillar, the
2:33competitive. The game will also be
2:35designed and played for competition.
2:38The balancing must therefore be precise
2:40, the servers and the netcode must be
2:41up to standard to host tournaments and
2:43allow all the players on the planet to
2:44compete. Frost Giant has announced that
2:47esports initiatives will be supported,
2:49with observer mode developed directly
2:51in-house. Co-op and team play are also
2:54part of the desired experience of the
2:56game on paper. The developer
2:58responsible for the Starcraft 2 COP is
3:00being recruited, who will be
3:01responsible for recreating a system
3:03similar to this one with mutations,
3:05heroes, and metaprogression. A
3:08competitive 3v3 mode is also widely
3:10touted as a potential main esports mode
3:12. This is the third level, co-op.
3:17Finally, the map editor as well as the
3:19ability to create and host custom games
3:21on the game's servers is guaranteed,
3:23taking into account the thousands of
3:25hours spent by players on Renor Party
3:27or Footman Frenzy. This freedom given
3:31to the community to create and iterate
3:33on the game engine is an integral part
3:35of Frost Giant's communication. This is
3:38level 4, custom games. It's clear that
3:41the plan announced by Frost Giant is
3:42rather enticing and that the team has
3:44the pedigree to announce such a project
3:45. At Comback TV, we are all very
3:48excited about the project and the
3:50studio's ambitions on paper. And we are
3:52not the only ones. On December 5, 2023,
3:54Frost Giant launched a crowdfunding
3:56campaign that will last until February
3:591, 2024. The requested goal of $
4:01100,000 was reached in less than a
4:03quarter of an hour. The million dollar
4:05mark, 10 times the goal, let's remember
4:07, was reached in 24 hours. Clearly, the
4:10wider RTS community responded by
4:12raising $ 2.4 million, making it the
4:15biggest video game Kickstarter campaign
4:17of the year. In the space of 4 years
4:21since its creation, Frost Giant has
4:23managed to raise around $ 40 million,
4:25recruit skilled employees and energize
4:27the competitive RTS community that is
4:29eagerly awaiting the game. So, as you
4:31will have understood, on paper it is
4:33flawless, but what about the reality of
4:35the facts? In July 2023, a small
4:37selection of hand-picked players,
4:39including former Starcraft 2 pro
4:40players and video game journalists,
4:42were able to get their hands on a very
4:44limited Stormgate build. Only one
4:46faction available, very few completed
4:49visual assets, and limited graphics.
4:51The first version of the game was a
4:52real alpha aimed at testing the game's
4:54physics engine and the responsiveness
4:56of the units. This alpha even gave rise
4:59to a tournament, the End of Alpha
5:00Tournament, which featured players you
5:02probably know, such as Parting, Mixu,
5:04Mana, and the two Moreno Duran brothers
5:06, Luciferron, and Vortic, who were
5:08fighting it out on Age of Empire 4.
5:10Since all participants were under a
5:11Non-Disclosure Agreement, or NDA, this
5:13tournament was not broadcast outside of
5:15Frost Giant's Discord server. At
5:18Comback TV, this is the first time
5:20we've seen real, competitive gameplay
5:21of the game. While Stormgate's level of
5:24polish is worrying, it's clear that it
5:26moves pretty well on screen and that
5:28players seem to have to use their
5:29skills to win. It was also at this time
5:32that we made our presentation video for
5:33the game on YouTube. Here again, the
5:35comments criticized the game's graphic
5:37style and lack of soul compared to SC2.
5:40But there was no real concern given the
5:42game's alpha status. In the weeks that
5:44followed, we all got an access key to
5:46the game at Comback TV. We were finally
5:48able to test the product with our
5:49little fingers and little eyes. So the
5:53game is responsive, the game is
5:54definitely there, it's on our PC, on
5:56our Steam, but let's be honest, the
5:57game is pretty much bland and doesn't
5:59have any particular personality. Only
6:02one race out of the three announced is
6:04available. The gameplay is terribly
6:06generic, the [ __ ] mechanics are average
6:08, and the maps are on the level of
6:10Steps of War, SC2 2010. Having played
6:12the SC2 beta on release day, I have to
6:14admit that the comparison is very, very
6:16poor for Stormgate. Yes, the two games
6:18don't have the same budget. Yes,
6:20Starcraft 2 was in development for much
6:22longer than Stormgate before being
6:23released to the public. But the gap
6:26between the two games is already
6:28colossal. And by wanting to be
6:30Starcraft's replacement on the
6:32competitive scene, by accepting the
6:33obvious affiliation between the two
6:35licenses, Stormgate is exposing itself
6:37to this kind of criticism. Despite this
6:39slightly disappointing first look for
6:40those lucky enough to have had the
6:42opportunity to get their hands on the
6:44alpha, Stormgate and Frost Giant
6:45continue to move forward with their
6:47project. A few months later, in
6:49December 2023, Stormgate released a new
6:51trailer at the Game Awards featuring
6:53the Infernos, the game's second
6:55playable faction, and above all
6:56announced—this is the big news of
6:58this trailer—that it would be
7:00released in early access in the summer
7:02of 2024. The first "global public test"
7:04would therefore take place less than a
7:06year later, and the schedule already
7:08seemed claustrophobic considering the
7:09state of the game and the path that
7:11would have to be taken to reach a level
7:13of finish comparable, at the very least
7:15, to that of Starcraft 2 at its release
7:18. In the months that followed and up
7:20until the early access release, Frost
7:22Giant continued to refine the different
7:24iterations of its alpha: placeholders
7:26were gradually replaced, some units
7:28were completely redesigned, and the
7:29maps improved slightly. That said, the
7:32game's core mechanics were still not
7:34very exciting. The presence of [ __ ],
7:36for example, is completely central and
7:38allows for ultra-brutal timings where
7:39their impact is, on the contrary,
7:41completely negligible. The lack of a
7:43tier 3 unit or the rather questionable
7:44balance in the background for me at
7:46that time, a game that intrigues me but
7:48cannot keep me on the edge of my seat
7:50enough to want to actively return to it
7:51. The game is terribly incomplete. The
7:54only mechanic that works is the 1v1.
7:57Versus multiplayer modes are still not
7:58available and are completely out of
8:00Stormgate's communication. The skeleton
8:02of the game is pretty good but the
8:04shell is terribly empty for now. In
8:06June 2024, a few weeks before the start
8:08of their game, Accessit announced the
8:10third faction, the Cestiaux. This is a
8:12race that is deliberately taking a more
8:14radical design gamble. Almost all the
8:15units have spells and abilities. The
8:17structures are produced via a mobile
8:19main building, the Arcship. A race
8:21quite distinct from the Infernos and
8:24the humans. A copy of the Terrans from
8:26Starcraft or the Undad from Warcraft 3,
8:29but also difficult to understand and
8:31handle. I've been playing DRTS since
8:33the genre's inception in 1992 with a 2
8:35and I was completely lost during my
8:37first game with the Cestiaux. And
8:39finally, here we are on July 30th,
8:41first for the founder's pack on
8:43Kickstarter and then August 13th, 2024
8:46for all the others. Stormgate is
8:48available as free-to-play on Steam. The
8:50community most committed to the cause,
8:52intrigued by the project since its
8:54inception and of course the most
8:55generous backers can now play the game
8:57and form their own opinion. The
8:59reception for Frost Giant is, alas,
9:02quite lukewarm. There are many
9:04criticisms and they affect all the
9:06pillars of the development announced by
9:07Frost Giant at the origin of the game.
9:09So, let's do it the right way. Let's
9:11start with the first pillar, the
9:13campaign. The campaign, although
9:14available at the release in early
9:16access in the form of a few short
9:18missions, lacks punch. The cartoonish
9:20artistic direction and the character
9:22design are largely outdated technically
9:24and struggle to reach the expected
9:26audience. The third faction, the
9:28Celestials, is simply not part of it.
9:31The rest of the campaigns are
9:32supposedly in development, but the
9:34content is very limited. This is
9:36already a pretty big failure for casual
9:38viewers, those who will almost
9:39exclusively play the campaign. A casual
9:42audience that can't even get their
9:44teeth into a free-to-play game by
9:45paying for it, with a campaign of a
9:47similar length and quality to that of
9:49Starcraft 1, released in 98. Second
9:51pillar, competitive play. And here too,
9:54there are many things to criticize
9:55about this early access release.
9:57Competitive play simply doesn't have
9:59access to all these units yet. The
10:01game's overall balance is problematic.
10:04The maps are very mediocre and multiple
10:06patches are regularly deployed after
10:08the game's release to fix this. But
10:10this mostly proves the crucial design
10:12issues present from the start. Despite
10:15all that, it is Stormgate's most
10:16accomplished pillar at release. Let's
10:18be honest. Competitive and semi-pro
10:20players of Starcraft 2, Warcraft 3, and
10:22Age of Empire are trying it out, and a
10:24few competitions are being organized
10:26without reaching a major audience on
10:27Twitch or YouTube. Even though
10:30Stormgate has timidly managed to
10:32produce three distinct races, a few
10:34units with personality, and fairly
10:36functional competitive dynamics. In
10:38comparison, competitive Starcraft 2 in
10:40the summer of 2024 looks like this. But
10:42what aggression with the left-handed
10:44play of Marine Marer Seral who is
10:46suffering, who is
10:48raising their eyebrows a little and who
10:51is saying to themselves, I'm really
10:53going to get 5th in the biggest
10:55tournament, I'm the only possible
10:58double champion, it's not possible,
11:02and so if the game is going to replace
11:04Starcraft 2 for sports, we're not there
11:06yet, with the very third pillar,
11:07cooperation, and if you felt it coming,
11:09well it makes sense, there are also
11:11things to say about this cooperation
11:13released in early access. Co-op
11:16deserves to exist, but once again, how
11:18can we not criticize its level of
11:20polish compared to Starcraft 2, Desert
11:23Strike, or any custom game on Warcraft
11:253. Co-op is also at the center of a sad
11:28controversy. Indeed, the first
11:31additional paid hero, Wars, voiced by
11:33Simulu, is not even made available for
11:35free to those who paid $ 200 for the
11:37collector's edition, despite what was
11:39written on the Kickstarter. As for the
11:424th level, well, don't worry, it won't
11:44take long. Stormgate has managed to
11:46ensure that no one is disappointed
11:48since it is not even present at the
11:50early access release. The observation
11:52is therefore terrible. Most players who
11:54have been able to test the game are
11:56disappointed for many reasons. The
11:58promises are not kept and as a result
12:00the reality of the figures is cold and
12:02clear. With 4,800 players at its
12:04maximum peak. A figure reached on July
12:0730, the day of release for the most
12:08generous players. Stormgate therefore
12:11disappointed almost all the people who
12:13had followed and financially supported
12:14its development. Barely a month later,
12:17in September, the few thousand players
12:19had now been reduced to a few hundred
12:20and their access continues to show its
12:22weaknesses in both the quantity of
12:24content available and its quality. And
12:26of course, the icing on the cake, and
12:28the icing on the cake, there was a
12:30small controversy involving members of
12:32Stormgate's staff, including CEO Tim
12:34Morten himself, who were caught
12:35red-handed posting fake reviews on
12:37Steam. I won't go into more detail
12:39about it, but all the information is
12:41available on the internet with a good
12:42search. The recurrence of Bad Buzz in
12:45Stormgate's very young history, and the
12:47general quality that was below public
12:48expectations, almost instantly
12:50extinguished the game's chances of
12:51succeeding in its original objectives.
12:53But above all, and this is the worst
12:55part, of providing a fun experience
12:56that would keep the game going. A
12:58free-to-play service game, healthy
13:01enough to generate money naturally via
13:04micro-games. Without players, there
13:05would be no income. The studio's
13:07statement admits the game's flaws and
13:09vows to fix them. Despite everything,
13:12between Early Access and the 1.0
13:14release, the Stormgate teams worked
13:16tirelessly to repair the trust lost by
13:18players and the quality of its game.
13:21All without success. The Frost Giant
13:24teams first tackled the biggest problem
13:26in the fall of 2024, the game's
13:27graphics, which were widely criticized
13:29by players. As a result, a general
13:32graphic overhaul was planned, and
13:34several campaign characters were
13:35redesigned. In April 2025, the show
13:38released during Early Access was
13:40reworked. A tech tree, a trait system,
13:42and an XP system for heroes were added.
13:45Finally, in May, the balancing was
13:47addressed by removing the factions 'top
13:49bar abilities and replacing the neutral
13:51crypts, who had never found their place
13:53in the famous Stormgates, from which
13:54the game's name is inspired. We have to
13:57admit that the studio has tried to
13:59repair the image and the opinion that
14:01players had formed, but none of these
14:02patches have managed to bring back more
14:04than 1,000 concurrent players. That's
14:06far too low. It quickly becomes clear
14:09that the $ 40 million budget, far more
14:11than any independent production, but
14:13also significantly less than what a
14:15game like Starcraft 2 would cost, is
14:17slowly but surely being spent,
14:19squandered months after me,
14:21particularly on salaries of course, but
14:23also on the marketing operations that
14:25have been attempted, but also on
14:27recurring courses, servers, real estate
14:30. Frost Giant will be able to bring its
14:32game to the release of 1.0, but not
14:34much more. Without players, there is no
14:36income. Without income, there is no
14:38additional content. The loop is
14:40intractable. With a final peak of 1,000
14:42players on the day of the 1.0 release
14:45in August 2025, Stormgate is a dull
14:47game. Stormgate's open-air development
14:52strategy didn't work at all and, even
14:54worse, probably put off the most avid
14:56players of this new RTS experience.
15:00Stormgates won't be the revival of the
15:02style and perhaps worse, will be cited
15:04as an example in shareholder meetings
15:06when a studio wants to fund a new RTS
15:08project in the future. Let's just say,
15:10guys, there was a 40 million budget, a
15:13crowdfunding campaign in 2004 and
15:15former Blizzard and Starcraft 2 players
15:17and it all fell apart in a month and a
15:19half to add salt to the PL. In April
15:222026, Atora, Stormgate's server partner
15:25, was bought by an artificial
15:26intelligence company and chose to stop
15:29its video game server business to focus
15:31on using AI. The game was pulled just
15:35like that, almost by accident, in near
15:36total indifference. As we approach the
15:39end of this video, we're going to ask
15:41ourselves an important question. What
15:42can we learn from Stormgate's dismal
15:44failure? The development story of
15:47Stormgate is sadly a textbook case of
15:49overall failure. It also took place at
15:52a time when strategy games were
15:53struggling to convince their
15:54traditional audience and recruit a new
15:56player base. I want to believe in the
16:00studio's honesty and their genuine
16:01desire to produce a game that could
16:03satisfy the hardcore RTS audience,
16:05especially the competitive and esports
16:07audience. It was the most accomplished
16:10part of Stormgate, the one that offered
16:11the greatest replayability as well as
16:13the largest number of active players.
16:15That said, all the greatest RTS games
16:17throughout history—Command and
16:19Conquer, Warcraft, Starcraft, Down of
16:21War—have won over their community and
16:23fans through a more casual, less
16:25competitive experience via their
16:26campaign, the quality of their story,
16:28and the charisma of their faction and
16:30character. The average gamer wants a
16:33big army, a badass hero, a relaxed pace
16:35, no need for 600 APM and a beautiful
16:37army that will destroy the computer at
16:39the end. The example of Stormgate is
16:41that of a game that failed to live up
16:43to its original promises. It failed in
16:45its communication by claiming a kinship
16:47with Blizzard, who placed them at a
16:48level of excellence that it could not
16:50achieve with a final product.
16:52Absolutely not at the level of their
16:54illustrious ancestors. A game that
16:55failed to seduce its audience. Although
16:57enthusiastic when it was announced, it
16:59seems to have been developed for no one
17:01in particular. Despite this, it seems
17:04necessary to mention that Stormgates is
17:06not entirely an isolated case, even if
17:08it is the one on which the community's
17:09greatest hopes were focused. We can
17:12mention Battle AES, the game by David
17:14Kim, the former developer of Starcraft
17:172's balance. For its part, Battle AIS
17:19took the gamble of developing only its
17:21competitive mode and not a campaign and
17:24did not even manage to make it to Early
17:26Access. The game aims to simplify the
17:29RTS mechanics, removing base building
17:31and macro elements to make way for
17:33micromanagement and unit-versus-unit
17:35combat. All this with deck building
17:37elements that are very popular in indie
17:39games that allow for high levels of
17:41customization for all players. Despite
17:43Tencent's investment, as a reminder,
17:45they are behind Riot Games. Rather fun
17:48gameplay and the strength of a
17:50well-known Starcraft personality, the
17:52game's lack of interest during the beta
17:54led to its cancellation in May 2025. In
17:56more recent history, we can mention
17:58Zeros Space, a project backed by
18:00Scarlett Pig, but also Cats which was
18:02released in early access in July. After
18:06a very good public presentation at the
18:08Steam Next Fest with 40,000 testers and
18:10250,000 wishlists, the game has now
18:12reached a plateau, barely 2 months
18:14after its release, at 150 active
18:16players. Despite the enthusiasm, skills
18:20, and a good public presentation,
18:22Zerospace already seems to be
18:23struggling to continue its development
18:25in the future given the number of
18:27active players. The real question, in
18:30my opinion, is this: Are the failures
18:33of Stormgate, Battle A, or Zerospace's
18:35difficulties symptomatic of the genre?
18:38Can we imagine a mainstream,
18:40competitive RTS that performs well
18:42enough in 2026 to revitalize the genre?
18:44It seems the community is ready for it.
18:46Stormgate's crowdfunding is a good
18:48example. The problem ultimately lies in
18:51the quality of the final products as
18:52well as the studio's shoulders to carry
18:54out the project. So yes, Stormgate has
18:57done more harm than good to the RTS fan
18:59community, but the void in the genre
19:01still deserves to be filled. Down of
19:04War 4 will be released in 2026, which
19:06will have the advantage of coming with
19:07a real, well-known license and a
19:09progressive development schedule
19:10without any particular fear of early
19:12access without a budget. The Space
19:15Marines, Orcs, Necrons and finally the
19:17Adeptus Mecanicus will be playable at
19:19release, with plans to add new factions
19:22via DLC soon after release. Give me the
19:24Zeldars and the Tyranids quickly,
19:26please. We can also mention the arrival
19:29in 2027 of a game based on the Game of
19:31Thrones license that will allow players
19:33to play as Starks, Targariens,
19:35Lannisters or White Walkers. The game
19:38will be designed for a community
19:40focused on the campaign, although 1v1,
19:422v2 and FFA oppositions will be
19:43available and balanced to keep the game
19:46fair while emphasizing the fun and epic
19:48nature of the battles. So, we are
19:50reduced to waiting for the arrival of a
19:52Messi, a game and a studio with
19:54shoulders strong enough to be able to
19:56create and finance a banger capable of
19:58making Starcraft 2 forgotten. In terms
20:00of visuals, the charisma of the
20:02factions, the quality of the campaign
20:03mode, the balance of the competitive
20:05mode, the fun gameplay options with
20:07co-op and custom games. A big deal, all
20:09in all. I will leave you today with a
20:11simple message. If the future is
20:13unclear and difficult to read, then we
20:15can still live in the present. A
20:17present in which your support for
20:19Starcraft 2 esports initiatives,
20:21whether official or modded, is of
20:23paramount importance. I have spent
20:25years refuting the dead game meme and
20:27it has never been more important than
20:29today. Come to Home Story Cup 30, make
20:31your voice heard on social media. Watch
20:33Age of Empire, Warcraft 3, Zero Space,
20:35Starcraft 2. Don't be a fetishist and
20:37as always, be an active player in your
20:39community. That was Funka with a long
20:42debrief of the Stormgate debacle. We
20:45hope you enjoyed it and that you're
20:47still hoping with us to watch
20:49top-quality competitive Starcraft 2 and
20:52RTS esports. The kind that makes your
20:55jaw drop when you see a juicy storm, an
20:58inhuman split, or an inevitable nuer.
21:01Finally, of course, lots of love to you
21:03who were following the YouTube content
21:05created during this period of September
21:072026 with Comback TV. It obviously
21:09warms our hearts. And so, well, do like
21:12we did before, leave a little comment,
21:14a nice little like, or even a boost on
21:16mobile and of course tell us what you
21:18thought of Stormgate or the next RTS
21:20releases. We can't wait to read you.
21:23Funka out.

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This page contains the full transcript of STARCRAFT II SERA T'IL LE DERNIER FAST RTS ? Le cas Stormgate by ComeBack TV, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 3,868 words across 604 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.

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