https://kotaku.com/big-layoffs-at-studio-behind-gigantic-studio-behind-to-1820120915
Perfect World Entertainment shuts down Runic Games.
Perfect World Entertainment shuts down Runic Games.
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Runic Games shut down (Torchlight devs)
- Thread starter Wirdschowerdn
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Latelistener
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Apparentely a bunch of key people left, though I donno why.
toro
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The were bought by a Chinese publisher. It didn't pan out.
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Baron Dupek
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They were bought by chinese company and ordered to make online/multiplayer/mmo trash but declined so they bailed out and studio was closed.
Metro
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^ All of that. Runic was started by Max and Eric Schaefer and Travis Baldree. People who were behind stuff like Diablo 2 and Fate. TL1 and TL2 were great. Then for some reason they got in bed with the Chinese. The Chinese wanted to push some shitty mobile MMO with Torchlight. Max, Eric, and Travis left to make their own studios. HOB is utter shit designed by C-list developers.
To add: Eric and Travis founded Double Damage games and made Rebel Galaxy -- a budget Freelancer type space sim on a 2D plane. Their current project is a spiritual sequel that is closer to Wing Commander Privateer (cockpit view, etc.). This should be announced in about a year.
Max and some other people founded Echtra Studios but have yet to release anything (although they're apparently working on an arpg).
This is the shit that Torchlight has become:
To add: Eric and Travis founded Double Damage games and made Rebel Galaxy -- a budget Freelancer type space sim on a 2D plane. Their current project is a spiritual sequel that is closer to Wing Commander Privateer (cockpit view, etc.). This should be announced in about a year.
Max and some other people founded Echtra Studios but have yet to release anything (although they're apparently working on an arpg).
This is the shit that Torchlight has become:
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Latelistener
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PW bought the majority stake, so it was not their decision.
Still, PW allowed them to make Torchlight II and Hob. Was Torchlight Mobile really the reason why the founders left?
Still, PW allowed them to make Torchlight II and Hob. Was Torchlight Mobile really the reason why the founders left?
Metro
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I doubt we will ever know with certainty but I'd say it's probably a huge factor. IMO, if you assume HOB was in the works for a few years then Blizzard North/Fate guys probably left because they wanted nothing to do with that, either. Shortly after the release of Torchlight 2 there was an interview with Max Schafer about what he wanted to do next and he mentioned an arpg/minecraft type of hybrid game. It's pretty obvious that's not what HOB was or ever planned on being. I'm sure Max and the other driving forces behind TL1 and TL2 realized they didn't need the others and didn't feel like being under the thumb of some shitty Chinese mobile game publisher.
Travis Baldree release a long series of tweets today on the closing of Runic: https://twitter.com/TwinStickGames
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SomeDudeandHisHamster
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Fuck China and korea, they have done nothing but ruin gaming with their microtransaction filled bullshit.
I'm Big Into Anal
Arcane
haha fixed omg im so clever
Jokzore
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Most of Gigantic devs were let go as well, deservedly so. Honestly, whos bright idea was it to make yet another fucking moba in an already oversaturated market?
And fuck everyone who praised that game for its art style, its an incomprehensible mess. Just like Guild Wars 2 it looks gorgeous as concept art, stunning in screenshots, but when those particle effects start flying its an indiscernible vomit of color.
Also Hob was terrible. Who wanted yet another 2.5 D indie puzzle-platformer in the first place? I say we start a petition to put a mandatory hiatus on the entire genre. About a decade or so should be enough time to burn through the stockpile of the damned things and create actual demand again.
And fuck everyone who praised that game for its art style, its an incomprehensible mess. Just like Guild Wars 2 it looks gorgeous as concept art, stunning in screenshots, but when those particle effects start flying its an indiscernible vomit of color.
Also Hob was terrible. Who wanted yet another 2.5 D indie puzzle-platformer in the first place? I say we start a petition to put a mandatory hiatus on the entire genre. About a decade or so should be enough time to burn through the stockpile of the damned things and create actual demand again.
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Latelistener
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Rebel Galaxy was in the works before Hob, so I guess it could be a reason why Travis left.
The thing I don't understand is why a president left the company, when he was suppose to be calling the shots.
It just doesn't look like PW actually gave a shit about what's going on at Runic.
If they were really involved, they would have made them make a F2P MMO instead of Rebel Galaxy, not a puzzle game like Hob.
Great Deceiver
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I don't think you realize how companies being bought by corporate, faceless giants work. What happened to Runic is exactly what happened to Bullfrog, Westwood, Origin, etc. etc. etc.
Latelistener
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I'm interested who thought Hob was a good idea. Good enough to screw Travil Baldree, which was like a one-man-band for Runic.
Because Hob doesn't look like a game a "corporate, faceless giant" would want them to develop.
Torchlight 2 had all the cool Diablo 2 features on paper, but they fucked up the graphics style, area design, multiplayer, and character classes. Overall, it actually ended up being worse than Diablo 3.
Great Deceiver
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HOB was probably something that had been in development for awhile (possibly before the buyout) and something the owners felt that whoever was left in the company could deliver reasonably quickly and for minimum investment.
LeStryfe79
President Spartacus
Damn. I remember playing Hellgate and one of those guys gave me and my friend alpha keys to Mythos. The possibilities seemed endless back then...
Hellgate was Flagship Studios.
LeStryfe79
President Spartacus
No shit. Where do you think the guys from Runic came from?
Oh well, good luck to these people on the next job. 
Don't really care honestly....
Don't really care honestly....
Not from the makers of Hellgate:London, which was developed by Flagship Studios San Francisco.
They came from the makers of Mythos, which was developed by Flagship Studios Seattle.
Out of 18 people on the Runic team, only 2 migrated from the San Francisco branch - Max and Erich Schaefer. Key personnel like Bill Roper and David Brevik, as well as the rest of SF branch, did not.
LeStryfe79
President Spartacus
So what's your point? I was at a hub in HG:L, and one of the Mythos devs was there giving out alpha keys. The 2 games used the same engine, and Mythos was originally made to test stuff for HG:L.
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