Torchlight Xbox 360 Interview

GameSetWatch recently chatted up Runic Games CEO Max Schaefer about their plans for the upcoming Xbox Live Arcade version of Torchlight, though they also touch briefly on Torchlight II and the Torchlight MMORPG.

Part of the reason the studio wants to focus on one thing at a time is because despite the success and broadening audience for Torchlight, Runic stayed small at just about 30 employees. Thus the decision to work first on Torchlight for Xbox Live Arcade, then on Torchlight 2 — thereby making the previously-announced MMO project, the team’s most ambitious, third in line.

“We didn’t want [the MMO] to totally take our studio down while we’re trying to do Torchlight 2,” says Schafer — when they made the decision to move forward with the sequel, they hadn’t yet formed a clear plan for the XBLA edition of Torchlight — “we had a general goal to do it when we could but there was no specific schedule.”

But unlike other studios who string together products to fund a bigger one, Runic doesn’t have that concern. MMORPG publisher Perfect World bought a majority stake in the company and will publish the upcoming MMO set in the Torchlight universe.

“We did well enough with Torchlight 1 on the PC that I can say we’re moderately thriving,” says Schaefer. “We’re able to do what we think is the right strategic move and not make any moves out of desperation. This is going to be the first year in a long time that we have two games released. We have high hopes for an exciting year.”