Runic Games, the developers of Torchlight II, have expressed excitement on their official site about the announcement by Blizzard of Diablo III’s release date, the 15th May, despite the fact that Diablo III is a direct competitor with their action-RPG.
”Congratulations to the Diablo III team for announcing a release date! That’s got to be a such a feeling of relief to be on the home stretch. We’re excited to hear the news, and we can’t wait to play,” began Runic’s post.
The developer then acknowledged that Diablo III made the market a little crowded, overshadowing all other action-RPGs, stating: ”We know a lot of you are worried about us. We’ve heard what you’re saying, and sure we’ve had similar discussions. But we began making the first Torchlight in 2008 when development on Diablo III was already underway. We didn’t let that be a reason that we couldn’t make an RPG. We made the commitment to create a game we loved to play. That’s what’s important to us, and that’s why we go to work every day.”
Runic promises to its fans that it will remain dedicated and focused on Torchlight II’s development regardless of any games that come out, and subtly asked for Torchlight fans to be similarly faithful to them, saying ”We know we have a lot of fans out there who’ve had a chance to play early builds of Torchlight II at conventions around the world, and are eagerly awaiting the sequel. We want you to have the best darn game we can make.”
Torchlight II is due to be released sometime this year. The original Torchlight was released on PC in October 2010 and earned an 8.5/10 score from Strategy Informer’s review. It was ported to Xbox Live Arcade and released a few months later in March 2011, earning the same score.