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Runic studios has been shut down. (dev of Torchlight I & II)
stretch611 Nov 5, 2017
Perfect World Entertainment (PWE), Chinese parent company of Runic, has shut the studio down. Apparently to focus on "Games As A Service."

Torchlight I & II had native linux support. (although Torchlight I was only linux native through Humble Bundle.) I own both, and they are great Diablo clones.

While PWE is still running the Torchlight II multiplayer servers, who knows for how long. News on the Runic homepage says there will be an upcoming announcement for Torchlight fans, but unless they are going to start selling Torchlight 2 multiplayer subscriptions, I doubt they will keep the servers online for long.

I used to play PWE's Neverwinter Online (a D&D licensed MMO through WINE) but left after the constant grind they kept adding along with neverending nerfs. It left me with a horrible impression of PWE.
Kuromi Nov 6, 2017
Whoa...but, i kinda not that amazed. After sudden Humble Bundle transition to IGN anything can happen.
crt0mega Nov 6, 2017
Wow… that sucks :(
Mountain Man Nov 13, 2017
Not really surprising. They were a decent developer who's biggest claim to fame was that they were the part of Flagship Studios that didn't suck. The Torchlight games were good -- but not great -- Diablo-clones, and I don't think they were ever huge successes, so there wasn't much argument in the way of keeping the studio open, especially since Travis Baldree and Max Schaefer, the real brains behind the outfit, left to start their own studio several years ago, and Runic seems to have been in a holding pattern ever since.
razing32 Nov 13, 2017
This "games as a service" crap has hit the Chinese as well ? Really ?
I knew some mmos in Asia were crappy grindfests to force your arm to spend real money but at this rate there won't be any major game without lootboxes and microtransactions.
This industry just gets sadder and sadder :><:
stretch611 Nov 18, 2017
Quoting: razing32This "games as a service" crap has hit the Chinese as well ? Really ?
I knew some mmos in Asia were crappy grindfests to force your arm to spend real money but at this rate there won't be any major game without lootboxes and microtransactions.
This industry just gets sadder and sadder :><:

I agree and sadly, yes it is already happening...
PWE also owns Star Trek Online and Champions online as well as Neverwinter online... all with grinding, microtransactions and loot boxes. (and other newer MMO grindfests from PWE.) They also have the wonderful habit of saying how people want the extra grind and nerfs whenever releasing new content. Not to mention deleting any posts in their forums or subreddit that disagree with their conclusions.

The sad thing is that I had fun and thoroughly enjoyed Neverwinter when it was first released then they added more and more grind with each update. I lasted more than many others, but it just became unbearable.

EA recently got flak for doing the same... Star Wars game in U-turn after player anger
QuoteGood news! You can unlock everything in Star Wars battlefront EA 2 if you play it for a mere 8 hours a day. It will only take you a little over 1 year and 7 months to accomplish!
QuoteA post by EA on community news site Reddit, explaining the reasons for the original rule, has become the most "down-voted" in the site's history.
The post explained that the rule was intended to "provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes".
The post currently has a score of - 639,000 points - which is a total of the number of "upvotes" (those who liked it) minus the number of "downvotes" (those who didn't).
According to Reddit's own statistics the previous most unpopular post had a score of -24,333 and that was a message which asked people to downvote it.

Makes me glad that EA doesn't bother with linux. (not that I would ever get an EA title after past experience anyway.) Although I am sure that it is just a matter of time before someone does microtransactions and grind just as bad on a linux title if it hasn't happened already. That pride and accomplishment crap that EA is touting reminds me of how PWE would explain a bunch of things.
razing32 Nov 18, 2017
Quoting: stretch611
Quoting: razing32This "games as a service" crap has hit the Chinese as well ? Really ?
I knew some mmos in Asia were crappy grindfests to force your arm to spend real money but at this rate there won't be any major game without lootboxes and microtransactions.
This industry just gets sadder and sadder :><:

I agree and sadly, yes it is already happening...
PWE also owns Star Trek Online and Champions online as well as Neverwinter online... all with grinding, microtransactions and loot boxes. (and other newer MMO grindfests from PWE.) They also have the wonderful habit of saying how people want the extra grind and nerfs whenever releasing new content. Not to mention deleting any posts in their forums or subreddit that disagree with their conclusions.

The sad thing is that I had fun and thoroughly enjoyed Neverwinter when it was first released then they added more and more grind with each update. I lasted more than many others, but it just became unbearable.

EA recently got flak for doing the same... Star Wars game in U-turn after player anger
QuoteGood news! You can unlock everything in Star Wars battlefront EA 2 if you play it for a mere 8 hours a day. It will only take you a little over 1 year and 7 months to accomplish!
QuoteA post by EA on community news site Reddit, explaining the reasons for the original rule, has become the most "down-voted" in the site's history.
The post explained that the rule was intended to "provide players with a sense of pride and accomplishment for unlocking different heroes".
The post currently has a score of - 639,000 points - which is a total of the number of "upvotes" (those who liked it) minus the number of "downvotes" (those who didn't).
According to Reddit's own statistics the previous most unpopular post had a score of -24,333 and that was a message which asked people to downvote it.

Makes me glad that EA doesn't bother with linux. (not that I would ever get an EA title after past experience anyway.) Although I am sure that it is just a matter of time before someone does microtransactions and grind just as bad on a linux title if it hasn't happened already. That pride and accomplishment crap that EA is touting reminds me of how PWE would explain a bunch of things.

I love Star Trek as a universe.Before the modern movies showed up and basically turned it into Star Wars.
Sadly I have heard of the grind in both Star Trek and Neverwinter from steam comments. A lot of people got pissed off and I guess they cannot shut off Steam comments completely.

I am well aware of the EA scandal and that fire is still burning large and hot . My favorite youtubers already covered this (Jim Sterling , SidAlpha, Yong Yea). I really hope EA takes a hard kick to the nuts but I doubt it.

There was already an argument in a post of a game about big companies coming to linux and I have seen people agree to "do a deal with the devil" just to have major publishers on our platform of choice. Or that this is normal "practice" and it creates "amazing" games. I could NOT disagree MORE with either statement.

I am glad I switched to Linux and I am glad we are as small as we are. Feels like being Switzerland in WW2. :)

Also , not sure if you saw the Activision patent , or the WB lootboxes in Lord of the Rings. Not sure which of them takes the cake. And it all just makes me glad none of their stink is on our platform.
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