They were among the first and popularized it. Their success with it fueled what we see today. They may not have been be first but they were clearly the most popular example (and continue to be)

If you think about it, SC did change gaming forever. Now everyone release unfinished games and calls them “alpha” while they use the money from sales to finance development. Many games are perpetually unreleased now. Their model has spread like cancer and made gaming worse for everyone. Meanwhile their stinking pile of garbage still has you falling out of elevators 13 years into development.

Remember the first time I played I went to fight a goat and got absolutely brutalized. I loved kenshi, but I can understand why some didn’t. Building a huge base a pumping out hash was my crowning achievement. Then the religious freaks showed up and my tower guys killed everyone. Later I found some band of 30 mis-programed bots that I would take with me and they killed anything around me. Ahh…such a great game.