Torchlight 2 dev wants to avoid paid DLC, pledges free updates

"In the long run we want to be known as the people who have the best value in gaming," Runic Games CEO Max Schaefer said, promising to make all future DLC for the game free.

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Torchlight 2 is well on its way to becoming a million-seller, according to CEO Max Schaefer, citing the game's "well over a quarter" million pre-orders. Reaching a million sales will make the game instantly profitable, citing a development budget of under $10 million.

Demand for the game, coupled with the rise of digital distribution made it possible for team to price the game at $20--even as it gets favorably compared to the fully-priced Diablo series. That's key to Runic Games' long-term strategy. "In the long run we want to be known as the people who have the best value in gaming," Schaefer said.

He told Kotaku: "We want to build a long-term community. We want to have people that buy our games and stuff for a long long long long time. So it's sort of an investment in the future."

Because of their focus on value, Schaefer promises that all future downloadable content for the game will be free. "Part of our thing is that it's a $20 game, and once you start muddying the waters with paid DLC then it's like, well, it wasn't really $20," he said. "We wanna just avoid that whole thing entirely. We wanna just make it better and better and better."

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    September 20, 2012 2:00 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Torchlight 2 dev wants to avoid paid DLC, pledges free updates.

    "In the long run we want to be known as the people who have the best value in gaming," Runic Games CEO Max Schaefer said, promising to make all future DLC for the game free.

    • reply
      September 20, 2012 2:06 PM

      I have a boner for Runic

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      September 20, 2012 2:08 PM

      So far, I'm really enjoying TL2, the only problem I have is that their account management server is "down for maintenance atm, which means I can't play online. I'm sure i have a runic account, but I have no clue as to what it's password is.

      Other than that, it's quite a bit of fun.

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      September 20, 2012 2:09 PM

      Awesome all around.

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      September 20, 2012 9:55 PM

      Not having paid DLC won't matter seeing how it's on Steam, right? Meaning.. Steam will still charge, no? Isn't that one reason EA left? Who knows...

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        September 20, 2012 9:57 PM

        What? No.

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          September 20, 2012 9:58 PM

          There's already free DLC. The reason EA left is because they couldn't sell DLC in game (so your DLC wouldn't be managed through Steam).

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        September 20, 2012 10:00 PM

        You are making the assumption that Steam makes developers charge for DLC.

        Consider Team Fortress 2, or Left 4 Dead, and the free DLC they have given.

        You Mr. N. Ails, are drunk. Or high. Or better.

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          September 21, 2012 7:48 AM

          Or, as an external example from Valve, most events from Killing Floor.

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        September 20, 2012 10:16 PM

        I believe EA left because they wanted to charge for dlc and Valve wanted a cut if they did. Valve does not require you to charge for dlc though.

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          September 20, 2012 10:32 PM

          Valve takes a cut from everything being sold on Steam. Their new terms of service required all DLC for new games on Steam to be sold through the Steam store in addition to their standard non-steam methods. EA said no thanks and had a reason to not comply with their Origin service just starting up.

          Valve gave the users what they wanted in the end by making DLC purchasing and installation as painless as buying a game on Steam. And in the end had to pull some EA games from Steam because of it.

          It was pretty confusing at the time because neither side was saying much, but that was the jist of it.

      • reply
        September 20, 2012 10:38 PM

        [deleted]

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        September 21, 2012 7:44 AM

        Uh?

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      September 21, 2012 8:05 AM

      why? i don't get why they don't try to get some extra money out of the game..I mean i feel bad already just paying $20 for TL2, they could have easily sold it for $30, and I would gladly pay for additional content.. I hope this works out for the better for them in the long run.

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