Runic Games - Losing Its Founders

From Runic founder Travis Baldree,

I have a little something I'd like to share. It is with the strangest mixture of elation, fondness, fear, and bitter-sweetness that I'm announcing my departure from Runic Games, a company which I co-founded nearly six years ago, and have led as its President and lead engineer ever since.

I should say from the outset that this is an amicable departure, that I consider the amazing team at Runic my friends and family, and that it is a privilege that they've let me get away with running the place for this long. I love them all, and the biggest downside to all of this is that I won't get to see them every day. They are the reason that Runic has succeeded, and are the best group of people you could hope to meet or work with.

I feel more than confident in their ability to continue to excel, drawing on all of their collective talent. I'm excited for the world to see the project they are working on now, and I know it will be spectacular when you get to play it for yourselves.

I'd also like to thank Perfect World, who have been the best partner Runic Games could have hoped to find, and have been unfailingly supportive of us over the years, no matter how many curveballs I have thrown their way. It's my wish that I can maintain a great relationship with you all going forward.

Erich Schaefer, my friend and fellow Runic co-founder, will be departing Runic as well as my equal partner. I'm so gratified to be able to continue working with him.

I'm personally excited - oh, hell, I'm SUPER-STOKED - to be getting back to smaller-scale development, where I can wear many, many hats performing many, many different kinds of tasks. Working within the boundaries of limited means and resources is the best fun I've ever had, and that sort of work satisfies me in a fundamental way - I can't wait to be working that way again.

"o those of you who have played our games, interacted with us on our forums, met us at trade-shows, and Tweeted/Facebooked/social-media'ed with us over the years, I want to thank you all. You have helped to make this a rewarding journey for me, and I hope the same holds true for you.

April 2nd will be my last day at Runic, as I tie up some last technical tasks for the team, and then it's on to the next thing! I hope to see you all again soon, online, or maybe at one of those trade-shows.

Okay, if this goes on too much longer I'm gonna burst into tears-

Don't be a stranger!

Travis

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forgottenlor said:

Interestingly enough this reminds me of an article on EA in the recent German language magazine gamestar. Various studio heads, which worked first for their own companies (like Westwood or Bullfrog) complained that working for a bigger studio made them feel complacent. It took away the succeed or perish mindset that they had working on their own, which they felt pushed them to the edge of their own creativity and drive. Some people need pressure to perform their best, so I wouldn't see the move as all negative.

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joxer said:

Still didn't play T2 (and dunno when will, with so many games being released and the huge to replay list) but I did have fun with T1.

I don't think T1 was a masterpiece product where it'd be a shame to dissolve the team behind it. If you have something good, and they did, you can't evolve into better without some cardinal changes.
Like forgottenlor I believe the whole thing is not really a negative move. Won't say we'll definetly get pure awsome product(s) in the future from those guys, but it's now more probable than before.

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Caddy said:

Wow, this is departure #3. First there was Condor/Blizzard North, then there was Flagship, and now Runic. I have to say though, when they keep things smaller, it seems to be when they get the best stuff out. Even when they were Flagship, playing the Mythos beta (RIP) was super fun (I enjoyed it more than Torchlight), and seeing them change the game on a weekly basis (for the better) was pretty amazing. I hope this means more awesome stuff from them.

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johnnysd said:

Torchlight 2 is a pretty big upgrade to TL1. Definitely worth playing.

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