CEO Explains How Govt. Incentives Kept Stardock in Michigan

February 10, 2009

When Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) gave a shout-out to Stardock CEO Brad Wardell in her State of the State address last week, there was a back story.

As GamePolitics reported at the time, Granholm credited Michigan's game and film production incentive program with keeping Stardock located in the state.

For its part, Edge Online interviewed Stardock CEO Brad Wardell, who explained the impact of the Michigan incentives on his company:

[Michigan state officials] came to us and said look, what are your problems with Michigan?" Wardell rattled off some of the barriers of Stardock's location: a shallow talent pool, the weather and the communication infrastructure (Stardock's offices use a Comcast cable connection)...

the state was receptive, coming to Stardock with a package that outlined plans to improve communication infrastructure, incentives to hire from local colleges and breaks on relocation costs when recruiting out of state.

"If you're having to pay a guy a salary of $50K, $60K, $75K, and then you have to pay extra for relocation costs, the tax credit can make the difference. It can take away the cost of moving expenses."

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Comments

Re: CEO Explains How Govt. Incentives Kept Stardock in ...

Submitted by Neeneko on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 18:39.

Pitty we can't convince philadelphia to make them a better deal ;p

Re: CEO Explains How Govt. Incentives Kept Stardock in ...

Submitted by Xveers on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 17:42.

Michigan more likely looked at it this way:

They figured out how much this tax cut for them would cost them in lost revenue. They then look at how much overall revenue they would gain by having stardock expand their footprint in Michigan both directly (annual taxes) and secondary sources (sales taxes and increased business). They also looked at the probable revenue loss from stardock assuming they went to relocate someplace else that was more favorable.

Best keep your wits about you: The gears of life are always spinning, and ignorance eventually means you'll get caught in them.

Re: CEO Explains How Govt. Incentives Kept Stardock in Michigan

Submitted by Truec on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 15:15.

Michigan has enough money to give tax incentives to companies? When did this happen?

Re: CEO Explains How Govt. Incentives Kept Stardock in Michigan

Submitted by cpt crunchie on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 16:17.

massive amounts of loans to keep the state afloat is how.

It is not murder; I am merely advancing the hands of the clock, just a bit.

Re: CEO Explains How Govt. Incentives Kept Stardock in Michigan

Submitted by E. Zachary Knight on Tue, 02/10/2009 - 13:54.

Maybe Oklahoma's government needs to talk to Michigan's government and actually learn how to implement tax incentives.

E. Zachary Knight
Oklahoma City Chapter of the ECA
http://www.theeca.com/chapters_oklahoma

E. Zachary Knight
Divine Knight Gaming
OK Game Devs
Random Tower

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Andrew Eisen: Well, the Xbox One reveal certainly had an interesting affect on the big 3's stock prices. https://twitter.com/AndrewEisen/status/33705126448977100805/21/2013 - 10:45pm

PHX Corp: http://kotaku.com/so-the-xbox-one-reveal-screwed-up-a-lot-of-peoples-kin-509179256 So The Xbox One Reveal Screwed With Some People's Kinects05/21/2013 - 10:36pm

Zen: On a funny side note...both of my boys have already voted NOT to get the Xbox One as soon as they found out Minecraft won't transfer lol. Some people have priorities damnit! ;)05/21/2013 - 9:27pm

Andrew Eisen: Here's the full quote on EA making Wii U games according to Neogaf: http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=56112105/21/2013 - 8:19pm

Andrew Eisen: Xbox One may not be always on but that doesn't mean you can use it without an internet connection. http://kotaku.com/xbox-one-does-require-internet-connection-cant-play-o-50916410905/21/2013 - 7:39pm

Andrew Eisen: Polygon says EA's CFO says it is developing games for Wii U but doesn't provide that quote. http://www.polygon.com/2013/5/21/4351844/ea-developing-wii-u-games05/21/2013 - 7:11pm

Andrew Eisen: Well, I was right. Both Sony and Microsoft's consoles will be out by the year's end and both will be significantly more powerful than the current gen.05/21/2013 - 5:06pm

james_fudge: thnx05/21/2013 - 4:47pm

Zen: Just to let ya know...you called it the "Xbox 260" in the backwards compatibility article lol.05/21/2013 - 4:26pm

Zen: @PHX Awesome, I will hit those up after class tonight. Going back to college finally! :) My kids have had a blast telling ME to do my homework now lol.05/21/2013 - 4:19pm

PHX Corp: @Zen I sent you a friend request on both PSN and XBL, just a heads up05/21/2013 - 4:16pm

Zen: I noticed it with the football players when EA showed off Madden as well.05/21/2013 - 4:11pm

Zen: Is it just me or is call of duty hitting the "uncanny valley" with their nicely modeled faces and dead looking eyes? I found it distracting and seemed actually "less" real to me lol.05/21/2013 - 4:10pm

james_fudge: it sounds like if you have an HD reciever you'll be able to use it with a pass-through cable... not 100 percent sure yet05/21/2013 - 2:41pm

james_fudge: happening now http://majornelson.com/2013/05/21/xbox-one-architecture-panel/05/21/2013 - 2:20pm

E. Zachary Knight: Some reading material for Microsoft on its used games blocks. That will hurt the console more than helping. http://ezknight.net/?page_id=20505/21/2013 - 2:18pm

james_fudge: yeah good luck with over the air TV05/21/2013 - 2:12pm

E. Zachary Knight: But what if I want to only watch over the air tv? I don't subscribe to pay tv. I never will. If that is a requirement, then MS wasted 45 minutes telling me how great TV will be.05/21/2013 - 2:08pm

james_fudge: EZK it will depend on your provider, just like HBO Go i'd imagine.05/21/2013 - 2:05pm

PHX Corp: @IanC there's also a chance that those titles might be Xbox one exclusive, but it's too early to tell afaik05/21/2013 - 2:03pm

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