Schaefer: Torchlight II was created to “give people what they’re asking for”

By Stephany Nunneley

Runic Games not only announced a sequel to its popular RPG Torchlight this week, but regrettably also let slip gamers would have to wait a bit longer on the MMO based on the franchise.

According to the Runic’s CEO Max Schaefer, delaying the MMO was all about giving people what they wanted instead of making them wait.

“I think that we were overwhelmed by the response after Torchlight came out,” Schaefer told Gamasutra. “Everyone said they loved it, and there were generally good reviews, and I think that literally every comment in every review said it would’ve been better with co-op.

“The more we thought about it, we could give people what they’re asking for, and give them a nice, co-op Torchlight experience a lot faster than we could do an MMO. So it felt like there was a vacuum there. We decided to do it, because it’d make the MMO better in the long run because we’ll have a little more experience with making a multiplayer Torchlight, and it’ll give people what they want in the meantime.

“We kind of ran out of reasons not to do it. To the extent we make a profit on it, [profits will] be going into helping out the MMO, so that’s a big part of it. But mainly, the motivation is just giving the players what they want.”

Schaefer also said the firm has discussed bringing a game to consoles as well, but at this point, the studio a bit too small.

“We talk about it a lot. The limiting factor on that is that we’re a small studio, and we want to stay small,” he said. “So it limits the vigor for which we should pursue some of these things. But it’s definitely something we’re talking about and working on.

“We think Torchlight would make a great console game. It’s just about make all the puzzle pieces fit.”

Torchlight II is slated for digital release in spring 2011, and like the previous iteration, will eventually be followed up by a disc-based version at retail.

The game will also be playable at gamescom this month and PAX  Prime in September. For more on the game, head on over to the official website.

PC Gamer also has an exclusive first-look at artwork for the game through here.