Rune II - Released and Human Head Studios Closing

@Bluesnews Rune 2 has been released and Human Head Studios is closing its doors.

Rune II is now available on the Epic Games Store, offering Human Head's sequel to their Viking adventure from the last millennium. Unfortunately, it will be their swan song, as Human Head has closed its doors, reports VGC (thanks DoomWiki via Frans). Human Head's credits include Rune and Prey (2006), and they also worked on Batman: Arkham Origins, BioShock Infinite, and Brink. The good news is that everyone who worked for the company was offered a new position of Bethesda, where they are staffing up an internal developer called Roundhouse Studios, perhaps an homage to the offices Human Head one occupied at a former railroad roundhous.

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I am glad that the people will have a place to work again.
But! Somehow I have a feeling that this news should go to the "Gaming BS" thread.

Originally Posted by Black Rune
I am glad that the people will have a place to work again.
But! Somehow I have a feeling that this news should go to the "Gaming BS" thread.

I agree to a degree. I would not call working for Bethesda being saved - if you care about your creative output. Glad the employees still have jobs however.

Probably means the project did not go as planned I guess. As I seem to remember reading about Early Access & funding problems. I could be wrong who knows.

And there I'd been thinking that sweet Epic blood money was saving poor li'l indie studios…

Sounds like no patches either. Purchase Rune II as is, bugs will remain.

Ouch, if it actually never receive any updates/patches. That's really going to suck for anyone that put out money for this. As it's on Epic, that certainly isn't me, and I'm guessing now with their doors shuttered this game likely won't be available at other online sites down the road.

Originally Posted by Lynchden
Sounds like no patches either. Purchase Rune II as is, bugs will remain.

That is my assumption as well … and too bad. At least it is only $30 - meaning when it is on sale in a few months for $15 - 20 I can grab it then … maybe.

Originally Posted by Moorkh
And there I'd been thinking that sweet Epic blood money was saving poor li'l indie studios…

The deal must be seen first. Usually, Epic agrees with hedging against the risk of backlash following an annoucement of exclusivity as the steam trooper army is plenty and eager for pre emptive strikes.

This product does not sound as it was an epic exclusive as it was released on Steam EA. It must be seen how much they collected from an epic deal, if they collected anything by the way, they might have moved for the smaller cut.

Originally Posted by Silver
if you care about your creative output.

Endangered when there is a creative output to be endangered.

Talking to banker, "hello, I'm from Human Head Studios and I need a loan". Banker grows nervous, glancing around for an easy escape route.

not buyable on steam anymore

"Hi all - we at Ragnarok LLC wanted to give everyone an update on the status of Rune II. After the events that led to a legal situation that we cannot comment about, we hired Studio 369 in an effort to rescue Rune II. This past Spring, Studio 369's contract to develop the game expired and due to financial reasons, we decided not to renew their development contract. We have not been able to discuss this for legal reasons, but we have put further development of Rune 2 on hold. We are exploring the possibility of making the game free for all users in the coming months, to attract players to the game for anyone who still wishes to play coop or PvP. We are sorry that it has taken us this long to officially comment on this situation and that the Rune 2 community never got the game they deserved. We are deeply appreciative of the valiant efforts by the staff of Studio 369 to fix Rune II and also deeply appreciative of the community and all the support."

Originally Posted by porcozaur
not buyable on steam anymore

What a mess. I don't think anyone is going to be shedding tears over not being able to buy the game. I never tried it, but it's supposed to be pretty awful.

It's a shame about Human Head Studios though. The first Rune was pretty good for its time, and I really liked Prey.

A sorry finish to a studio that should have seen better success. And I'm sure it's less than helpful that their product got snatched off at least one market like that.