Runic Games closed down

[Stg-Flame]

From their official website:

Hey everyone,

It’s been over nine years since a rag-tag team of 17 developers helped open Runic Games. We’ve been so lucky for the community that has supported us and made us successful. Thanks to that support, we have had the chance to meet and work with the best people in the world. Our team here at Runic has released three successful games, and over that time we have seen many changes; team members got married, kids were born, but the most important thing is that we have become a family.

I’m sorry to say that today will be Runic’s last day open. Our focus is on our family here, and helping them find a new place to call home. If you are in games and looking for some of the best talent in the industry, please email jobs@runicgames.com.

For those that love the Torchlight series, there will be some news coming. And for all our fans, our community and multiplayer services will keep running even after the studio's lights go off.

It has been an amazing experience. To my family here at Runic, I know we won’t be far from each other, and I’ll miss seeing you all every week.

You haven’t heard the last of us,

Marsh Lefler
Studio Head

From other publications:

China-based publisher Perfect World Entertainment — which acquired a majority stake in Runic in May 2010 — told Polygon in a statement that it has decided to close the studio “as part of [Perfect World]’s continued strategy to focus on online games as a service.”

So it seems even though Runic was still working on Hob and the Torchlight series (rumors of a Torchlight 3 have been circulating for a while), their parent company decided since they weren't focusing on pay-to-win grindfests, it didn't suit their business model and they were shut down.

Torchlight was a personal favorite of mine for ARPGs as they did a lot of things right (though it did take a long time for them to get Torchlight 2 balanced), but Hob has been on my wishlist for a long time. A lot of people were saying that Hob left early access too soon and it wasn't explained as to why, but now I guess we know why it was pushed out when it did.

There's some speculation going around whether Steam is going to ultimately remove Runic's games from their client so it might not be a bad idea to grab the games now just in case. There's quite a few games in my library that have been removed from the Steam store for one reason or another, but the one thing in common with those games is the developer no longer exists.

 

[shortylickens]

Torchlight 1 and 2 were both kind of unimpressive rip-offs of Fate. Or copies. Anyway, nothing special.
I cant even recall any other titles of theirs.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Their titles include:

Torchlight
Torchlight 2
Hob

That's it. Still, I enjoyed both Torchlight games for what they were and people are pretty happy with Hob. Either way, it's still a shame that a company like Runic Games was shut down simply because their overseas investors wanted them to create pay-to-win grindfests. I also recently learned that the original founder of Runic Games left a while back to form Double Damage Games and made Rebel Galaxy - a game I had never heard before, but recently my girlfriend said it looked like Firefly, so she's been playing that non-stop for a while now. Prior to today, I had no idea they were connected.

 

[Craig234]

Hm Hob just came out, 'very positive' reviews.

 

[shortylickens]

Rebel Galaxy was decent, but not as awesome as advertised. I'd like either a massive expansion, or a sequel thats much bigger.

 

[BFG10K]

I liked the first Torchlight game. It was a nice simplified ARPG which didn't require heavy stat or item crunching. Character building was also really straightforward too.

 

[Elcs]

Sad. Torchlight was good.

 

[you2]

Some person but different studio.

Rebel Galaxy was decent, but not as awesome as advertised. I'd like either a massive expansion, or a sequel thats much bigger.

 

[Aikouka]

Torchlight 1 and 2 were both kind of unimpressive rip-offs of Fate. Or copies. Anyway, nothing special.
I cant even recall any other titles of theirs.

Well, that's probably because the guy that made Fate is part of... or rather, was part of Runic Games.

 

[shortylickens]

You missed my point.
My point is the games were unoriginal.

That it comes from the same person doesnt justify it. It means he was lazy and copied from himself and rebranded & sold it as a new product.

 

[OCNewbie]

I never played Fate. I really enjoyed Torchlight 1, and, even more so, Torchlight 2.

 

[shortylickens]

I never played Fate. I really enjoyed Torchlight 1, and, even more so, Torchlight 2.

Torchlight with lesser graphics.

 

[BSim500]

You missed my point.My point is the games were unoriginal.That it comes from the same person doesnt justify it. It means he was lazy and copied from himself and rebranded & sold it as a new product.

Torchlight (2009) is hardly a Fate (2005) clone just because Travis Baldree was on the team. Runic games was co-founded by the same Erich & Max Schaefer who co-founded Blizzard North (1993) and created Diablo (1996) a decade before Fate was released. That's why Torchlight's UI and gameplay is extremely Diablo 2-ish more than anything else. And it overwhelmingly succeeded at being a "modern D2" (in some areas, more than D3 did), nor did it need (or people want) anything else changed in terms of "originality" (other than the addition of pets, which were great).

Overall, the Torchlight games were fantastic, and despite making only two games of substance, Runic Games will be sorely missed by many of us.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

IIRC, wasn't Fate even just a gimpy game that was used as a netcode test for ... what, Hellgate:London I think? And ended up just being a kinda-fun 3d ARPG, which eventually led to a more complete game creation, which was Torchlight. It wasn't so much that Torchlight was a copy of Fate, more that it was an actual game made from Fate's concepts which were never really intended to be a fully fleshed out game, based on user reaction to Fate itself which was rather positive.

I did enjoy Torchlight I/II, though it's true that they weren't groundbreaking, and that was a little while ago at this point.

 

[Thump553]

I never played Fate. I really enjoyed Torchlight 1, and, even more so, Torchlight 2.

If you ever played it you'd realize shorty was correct. They are nearly an exact clone of Fate 1 & 2. All four were reasonably enjoyable Diablo2 clones, but none had the magic replay-ability D2 had.

 

[you2]

I played both and I didn't really find them to be 'clones'. They were similar; though mostly lifeless hunks. Much prefer titan quest to the four of them. Anyway time will tell.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Torchlight with lesser graphics.

This is like saying Darkstone is Fate with lesser graphics.

Torchlight may have taken some ideas from previous games (leaning more on the Diablo side than the Fate side), but it doesn't mean it was a straight rip-off.

 

[Aikouka]

IIRC, wasn't Fate even just a gimpy game that was used as a netcode test for ... what, Hellgate:London I think?

I think that was Mythos or something like that.

 

[[DHT]Osiris]

I think that was Mythos or something like that.

Well done, sir.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythos_(video_game)

Flagship Studios (2006-mid-2008)[edit]
Originally codenamed "Project Tugboat," the game started as a networking technology test for Flagship Studios' multiplayer game Hellgate: London.[3] By late 2006, the test project had grown into an independent game scheduled for a separate release. Its development was led by Travis Baldree and a newly formed Seattle offshoot of Flagship which remained largely separate from the development of Hellgate.[4][5] Mythos was built upon the same core engine and technology that Hellgate: London used.[6]

Starting in 2007, the game had been in an ongoing closed beta testing stage, with an open beta expected in mid-2008.[7] However, on 19 July 2008 it was announced that due to continuing financial hardships at Flagship Studios, Mythos would be going on hiatus, and the beta closed shortly thereafter. The company laid off most of its employees, and the development of Mythos was suspended. Almost immediately after Flagship's closing, the entire Flagship Seattle team responsible for Mythos (consisting of 14 people including lead designer Travis Baldree and executive producer Max Schaefer) formed Runic Games and began development of a new game named Torchlight.[1]

 

[Craig234]

There are always a lot of similar games made to others. How many 'myst clones'? How many similar FPS games? How many trading card games like Magic The Gathering? Etc.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Torchlight 1 was a lot of fun. I never finished 2 but it had its moments too.

 

[Stg-Flame]

I never finished the second game either because of the balance issues. It was tailored to be a multiplayer experience and with that in mind, everything was balanced around co-op and not solo play. I think by the time they got around to balancing everything I had already moved onto something else. I think I have maybe 20 hours put into Torchlight 2 whereas Torchlight 1 I'm sitting at over 350.

 

[rivethead]

I went and looked and I have 96 hours in Torchlight 1. I played a Destroyer and Devastator build. I never retired any characters and never got any of those full armor sets (I guess I don't have good luck).

I think I'll give it another go and try an Alchemist build this time.

 

[shortylickens]

BUMP!


http://store.steampowered.com/app/290300/Rebel_Galaxy/


Rebel Galaxy is 80 percent off. For such a low price I recommend everyone try it out.
If you dont like it after 2 hours, you wont be convinced. Get a Steam refund.

 

[you2]

How is rebel galaxy related to Runic ?