Only a company like Stardock could hire someone like Jon Shafer after what he did to Civilization.
Look, for those of you that are fanboys of this kid:
There was one thing, ONE THING that changed from Civilization 4-BTS and Civilization 5, and that was the lead developer, Jon shafer. 2k did not change, Firaxis DID NOT change, nor nothing else, one piece was moved in the puzzle.
So why was Civ4-BTS such a succes and considered to be one of the best turn-based strategy games of all time? How do you go from that to having a complete failure of a game that dissapointed the entirity of its fan base?? What was the change that caused that?? Was it 2k?? no I dont think so, since they made Civ4-BTS, was it Firaxis?? no because guess what? they were there too, so who could possibly be??
That's right!, the 24 year old kid that graduated from a below mediocre university with a history degree. Not only a History major (might as well he should've choosen PE as major) but also from a university that has less acreditation than one of those getto online universities that advertise in national channels. How in earth did this kid got a job is beyond me, how he got a lead designing job is just one of those situations that makes you wonder about the IQ of people with managing jobs.
Anyways, there is no doubt for anyone that is smart enough, that Jon Shaffer was the responsable for destroying a 20 year old franchise with only ONE release, and 3 months. And there is no doubt that he will do the same to Stardock games, but guess what? there is not much to ruin there so probably the damage won't be as bad as the one he did to Civilization, so probably some other mediocre gaming company will hire him yet again after he is done with Stardock.