computer and video game industry founded 2008 headquarters seattle washington usa key people max schaefer ceo travis baldree president products torchlight torchlight ii parent perfect world website runicgames.com runic games is a seattle based american computer game company formed by travis baldree creator of fate max schaefer and erich schaefer co founders of blizzard north of diablo fame peter hu and the flagship studios seattle team responsible for mythos . 1 2 it is a subsidiary of perfect world co. ltd. 3 in 2009 the company released torchlight a single player action role playing game . they released a sequel torchlight ii on september 20 2012 . it was at this time the developers revealed they were no longer pursuing plans to create an mmo in the torchlight universe . 4 contents 1 history 2 games 2.1 torchlight 2009 2.2 torchlight ii 2012 2.3 hob tba 3 see also 4 references 5 external links history edit runic games was founded in august 2008 by travis baldree max schaefer erich schaefer and peter hu . 5 the company formed specifically for the purpose of keeping the mythos team together to develop a new action rpg video game as a spiritual successor to their previous project . 6 following the dissolution of flagship studios in 2008 all 14 members of the seattle team that developed mythos signed onto runic games . 2 7 full production on the game started around november 2008 meaning that the game s total development period was approximately 11 months . 8 at the 2009 game developers conference some members of the runic games team were present with an early version of their single player game at which point it was revealed that the title would be torchlight . 9 one notable addition to the staff was matt uelmen composer for blizzard entertainment s diablo series . as of mid 2009 the company employed no fewer than 26 people . 5 10 gamasutra named runic games one of its top 5 developers of 2009 for the studio s ability to create the highly polished torchlight in only 11 months . 11 the company was also praised for its responsiveness to its player community citing one particular incident mere hours after a forum member mentioned that one of the game s camera effects left her unable to play sections of the games due to an uncommon eye condition a runic developer patched in a user toggle for the option at 8 00 am on a sunday morning no less . chris remo gamasutra s best of 2009 top 5 developers gamasutra following the 2009 release of torchlight the studio shifted to the production of a sequel torchlight ii . 12 13 in 2010 perfect world entertainment inc. bought an 8.4 million majority stake in runic games . 14 on march 26 2014 travis baldree announced he would be leaving runic games along with co founder erich schaefer to form double damage games . 15 games edit torchlight 2009 edit main article torchlight runic games first product is torchlight a single player action role playing game published by perfect world entertainment inc. and encore inc and released for windows on october 27 2009 . 16 the fantasy themed game is set in the fictional town of torchlight and the expansive caverns and dungeons nearby which adventurers explore to collect valuable loot and battle hordes of monsters . following the initial digital distribution release encore inc published a windows retail box version in january 2010 a port for mac os x was developed by world domination industries and released through steam 17 in may 2010 and it was released for the xbox 360 via xbla on march 9 2011 . 18 the game was met with a generally positive critical reception holding a metacritic score of 83 based on 57 reviews . 19 torchlight ii 2012 edit main article torchlight ii runic games announced torchlight ii a sequel that features multiplayer co op . the company decided to develop the sequel to give the players what they re asking for in terms of a multiplayer experience while serving as an intermediate step toward their planned mmorpg . 13 torchlight ii was released on september 20 2012 . 20 though not listed anywhere in their marketing materials 21 torchlight ii requires a runic games account to play in internet multiplayer games . hob tba edit runic games announced hob on august 17th 2015 . hob is set on a beautiful and dangerous unknown world with buzzing life above and the whirrs of mysterious machinery below . the more players delve into the world s design the more they uncover a planet in peril . players must learn to survive understand their true purpose through acquiring skills and ultimately transform the nature of the world itself . hob is presented without text or dialogue . narrative is revealed as players explore and interact with their mysterious planet and the strange life forms that inhabit it . hob features smooth controller gameplay multi layered puzzles and striking visuals 22 see also edit blizzard north flagship studios mythos references edit sean hollister 2008 08 14 . captaining the lifeboat runic games max schaefer and travis baldree . gamecyte . archived from the original on july 11 2011 . retrieved 2009 04 11 . a b suzie ford 2008 08 11 . warcry interviews runic games travis baldree . warcry network . retrieved 2009 04 06 . 1 dead link griffin mcelroy 2012 09 20 . runic games has no plans to work on torchlight mmo . theverge . retrieved 2012 09 20 . a b michael cunningham 2009 08 21 . torchlight interview . rpgamer.com . retrieved 2009 08 21 . sid shuman 2009 02 06 . runic games max schaefer warns indie devs talks secret new game diablo 3 . gamepro . archived from the original on 2009 02 10 . retrieved 2009 04 06 . david jenkins 2008 08 11 . mythos team reforms as runic games . gamasutra . retrieved 2009 04 06 . patrick klepek 2009 10 12 . torchlight interview with runic games ceo max schaefer . g4 tv . archived from the original on march 23 2012 . retrieved 2009 10 14 . tiberiusaudley 2009 03 28 . announcing torchlight . runic insider . retrieved 2009 04 06 . torchlight mega interview . pcgames.de . 2009 07 24 . retrieved 2010 01 10 . chris remo 2009 12 17 . gamasutra s best of 2009 top 5 developers . gamasutra . retrieved 2010 01 10 . tracey john 2009 12 09 . runic games talks torchlight the upcoming mmo diablo comparisons more . massively.com . retrieved 2010 01 10 . a b graft kris . interview runic ceo on torchlight ii digital strengths . gamasutra . retrieved 2010 08 06 . http www.massively.com 2010 05 18 perfect world entertainment invests in torchlight mmo announcement next things runic games official forums kat bailey 2009 09 04 . release date revealed for torchlight . 1up . com . retrieved 2009 09 04 . steam for mac launch details revealed steampowered.com happy torchlight xbla day . runic games . 2011 03 09 . retrieved 2011 03 09 . torchlight pc reviews . metacritic . 2009 10 29 . retrieved 2009 10 29 . torchlight 2 release date torchlight ii official site http www.torchlight2game.com about http www.runicgames.com about press 2015 08 17 runic games announces hob external links edit torchlight official website runic games inc. official website the original runic games fansite interview max schaefer ceo runic games v t e perfect world games battle of the immortals blacklight retribution ether saga odyssey final fantasy type 0 online heroes of three kingdoms jade dynasty neverwinter perfect world star trek online swordsman online subsidiaries antaeus cinema line cryptic studios perfect world entertainment runic games retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title runic games & oldid 738886677 categories companies established in 2008video game companies of the united statesvideo game development companiesperfect world company hidden categories all articles with dead external linksarticles with dead external links from february 2016 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured 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