Here's a link to the Technical forum posting on this issue. I've got a short step-by-step about half way down the page. From a support post on one of the threads it seems there are some people that this route still won't work with, but with many it has. [link="https://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com/300370/page/3"]Thread link[/link]
Monarch_Black
Hey Darth. That is the same error that we've been getting the last couple days. You should be able to download Stardock Central, which is kinda like their version of Steam. [link="https://www.stardock.com/products/sdcentral/"]Stardock Central link[/link] Install that then go to the My Games section. Right click on Sins of a Solar Empire and choose Register Product. The registration screen will pop up. Put your serial number in there, along with the email you already registe
Thanks Jedifan. I installed Stardock Central from https://www.stardock.com/products/sdcentral/ , fired it up, went to "my Games" and entered a key from the right-click menu on the Sins. The registration worked and it updated. Now if I go to the same link that didn't work before, everything is fine. So it does work to just go the Stardock Central route rather than following the in-game path you are led on if you encounter a dead end.
Same problem here with one I just bought at Target today. Factory sealed. Just keeps going back to the same "enter SN" screen with no other messages. Looks like a server problem with all the June 9ths on the board. Gotta say, this isn't the foot I wanted to start off on. I hope the game turns out being cool and knocks this bitter taste out of my mouth.