Torchlight II Will ‘Ideally’ Launch Shortly After Diablo III

Joystiq had a chance to talk with Runic’s Max Schaefer during this weekend’s PAX East event, and reports some of his comments on a possible release date for Torchlight II.  In short, they’re going to try to avoid Diablo III by about a month:

“Well, I’m sure you’ve noticed Diablo has announced a date. So, we don’t want to fall right on that,” Schaefer said when we met at PAX East today. “The real answer is when [Torchlight 2] is finished, is Diablo 3 right now? Then we’ll wait.”

Schaefer said the launch date will “ideally” be shortly after the one occupied by Diablo — and optimistically it’ll be a month later. He noted that Runic isn’t going to rush to beat Blizzard, however. With the two products selling alongside one another, he feels it’s best to polish the game as much as possible. He doesn’t want to be the “cheap” alternative, simply the less expensive one at a $20 price. He also noted the game would have an offline mode, modding, LAN support, and that its pacing would separate it from the competition.

While it’s heartening to see that the team is confident in the title, it’s difficult to not be at least a little apprehensive on how releasing it after the juggernaut that is Diablo III will turn out.