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Runic Games (Torchlight, Hob) shut down

_Aaron_

_Aaron_

Member
Perfect World Entertainment recently closed the Seattle office of Runic Games as part of the company’s continued strategy to focus on online games as a service. We’re grateful to the team for all of their hard work bringing incredible experiences like Torchlight, Torchlight II and Hob to life. Runic Games will remain a part of Perfect World Entertainment’s portfolio of studios, and its games will continue to be available to players, as we stay committed to supporting and growing Runic Games’ beloved franchises.
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https://kotaku.com/big-layoffs-at-studio-behind-gigantic-studio-behind-to-1820120915
 
M

mr jones

Ethnicity is not a race!
Wow. I still haven't played the 2nd Torchlight, yet.

Huge game to scratch that Diablo - style itch. Had a nice World of Warcraft look to it, too.

Too bad. Loved Torchlight.
 
ThatStupidLion

ThatStupidLion

Member
wow insane if fully shut down... thought torchlight would have made enough to keep them around a bit longer at least

id ont think torchlight II did as well as the first, not sure where they went from TL2 though
 
D

Demicore

Member
How sad. Damn you games-as-a-service! *angry fist-shaking aimed at nothing in particular*

I want to go whale-hunting now.
 
B

BluWacky

Member
So presumably this means the Torchlight IP will live on as a F2P title or similar?

I liked Hob. I guess not many people bought it. I did :(
 
W

Wolfgunblood Garopa

Member
I thought TL2 was fairly underappreciated. I had some builds in that game that were really fun and crazy to play, even compared to the standard bearers of ARPGs today.

Hopefully everyone there lands on their feet.
 
C

Composer

Member
Wow. Really sad news. Torchlight 2 is one of my top 10 games of all time. I can't believe we won't be getting a 3rd.

Such a huge mistake for them to not create TL3; instead they focused on Hob which I'm guessing did not work out. Should have put out TL2 and 3 on PC/console.
 
I

IgotElbows

Member
That's a damn shame. And out of nowhere.

HOB musta really flopped.
It has 40-50k sales on PC.

Wonder if Torchlight 3 would have been a better choice.
 
A

Aurongel

Member
Wow, didn't even know Hob existed before this thread. This was shocking to me at first because TL1 and 2 were pretty recognizable successes.
 
A

Alebelly

Member
Torchlight 2 sold a ton on PC, and it would have sold another ton or two if they'd released a version for PS4 and XBO.
 
Agent_4Seven

Agent_4Seven

Tears of Nintendo
Damn, what a fucking year! First Visceral, and now Runic. This goddamn industry can't appreciate and cherish good things it still has.

Just FUCK YOU, Perfect World! You aIn't fucking PERFECT!
 
L

LakeEarth

Member
Alebelly said:
Torchlight 2 sold a ton on PC, and it would have sold another ton or two if they'd released a version for PS4 and XBO.
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Seriously, I don't understand their decision making in not porting it over, especially after console Diablo 3 sold so well.
 
X

Xiaoki

Member
So, Perfect World Entertainment shut down Runic and Motiga on the same day?

Well, that doesn't sound a foreshadowing at all.

What's going on at PWE that we don't know about?
 
M

mackattk

Member
LakeEarth said:
Seriously, I don't understand their decision making in not porting it over, especially after console Diablo 3 sold so well.
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Especially at the price point. At $19.99 they would have sold a ton. Add in multiplayer support for PSN/XBL it would have been the only competitor to Diablo 3, and it would give people an option to play after they finish/get tired of D3.
 
SirNinja

SirNinja

Member
"Perfect World" entertainment...pfft. In a perfect world, we'd have a lot more games like Torchlight/Hob and a whole lot less forgettable perishable GaaS-type games.
 
K

K.Jack

Knowledge is power, guard it well
Them never releasing a single expansion, for either Torchlight, always seemed so stupid to me.
 
P

Pepboy

Member
IgotElbows said:
That's a damn shame. And out of nowhere.

HOB musta really flopped.
It has 40-50k sales on PC.

Wonder if Torchlight 3 would have been a better choice.
Click to expand...

Seems like poor marketing to me. The game looked like a platformer and I had 0 interest in it as a result. But I see now it was arpg of some sort. Maybe action adventure with cartoonish look? But I think after skylanders and spinoffs that market is super crowded.
 
Inviusx

Inviusx

Member
So Perfect World killed Motiga (Giantic) and Runic (Torchlight) in one day?

The chinese give absolutely zero fucks.
 
Nikodemos

Nikodemos

Member
Razzorn34 said:
Damn, I just finished Hob. It was a great game.

GaaS will be the death of us.
Click to expand...
The fundamental lesson here is don't sell your small developer company to a large corporate publisher. You'll invariably end up gutted and closed. You're better off just gritting your teeth and going on as a small studio, regardless of funding difficulties.
 
D

Dazzyman

Member
Futaleufu said:
Torchlight has been sitting in my backlog since at least 2010. Maybe this is a good time to check it out.
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Play it and get ii there great Arpgs.

What a sad day this is. Was hoping for torchlight 3. They should have console ported 2 when it came out as so many people blocked diablo 3 with it being online only at the time and bought torchlight2 instead
 
DiscoJer

DiscoJer

Member
Given that PWE is basically a F2P MMO company, it seemed strange they even owned them in the first place. Or didn't have them develop a F2P mmo version of torchlight.
 
K

Kule

Member
DiscoJer said:
Given that PWE is basically a F2P MMO company, it seemed strange they even owned them in the first place. Or didn't have them develop a F2P mmo version of torchlight.
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Thought the same. TL2 could have been reassembled as a f2p game similar to PSO with hubs and instanced questing. It would have been the logical next step and kept the publisher happy with the 'games as a service' trend. I'd be surprised if perfect world doesn't do this themselves now and just recycle the old assets.
 
bee

bee

Member
sad news but most of the founders had left long ago, max schaefer and some blizzard people have set up http://www.echtra.net/ last year which sounds promising

The team is not quite ready to speak more about the project but something is coming that will be sure to please RPG, MMO and ARPG fans everywhere.
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xrnzaaas

xrnzaaas

Member
Sad, I know that devs don't like to make the same games over and over again, but they should've made Torchlight 3. Diablo is still big, Path of Exile is super huge, with their expertise they could've had a nice piece of the pie.
 
C

CadetMahoney

Member
Castef said:
Never understood why they did not bring Torchlight 2 to consoles.

Bad sales of the first one?
Click to expand...

I think there would have been some huge framerate issues with that game on console tbh.

It was also very mouse and k/b heavy with the amount of options in game and inventory management. From what I recall it wasn't that much but more than a controller would handle or it would be very tedious.

It would have to be designed from the ground up with a controller in mind.
 
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