Torchlight 2?

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 4, 2010

Hat tip to RPGWatch for this one –

Huh. I thought they were going straight into MMO-land with this. But they are saying Torchlight II will include peer-to-peer matchmaking. That’s kind of an unusual MMO strategy.

Or maybe they realized an MMO would take a lot more time than they anticipated, and they did so incredibly well with the first one that it was easier and more profitable to just make a multiplayer-capable sequel.

Well, either way – as I wrote yesterday, Torchlight didn’t have the legs I’d hoped it would have, but I definitely got my money’s worth out of it. I won’t hesitate to pick up the sequel.

Filed Under: Game Announcements - Comments: 7 Comments to Read

Stephen said,

I wonder if it made more business sense to go ahead and get another single player game out and gaining revenue. It looks like there are a lot of tech features in that press release that are bridging the first game with what would be needed for an MMO.
Rob said,

I kind of like the way Torchlight 1 and 2 are being released. While Torchlight 1 was admittedly limited in scope and depth, it was affordable and what it did do, it did very well, I thought. Torchlight 2 will hopefully add a bit to this with co-op play and maybe some other new features and hopefully it will be affordable as well ($20).

I love the thought of smaller, but more affordable games like this that give a company a revenue stream to make incremental improvements without hitting customers up for $60 every time they release something new. Its like the anti-Activision model.
Hajo said,

Peer-to-peer matchmaking sounds like a good idea to me. I totally would buy that and call it multiplayer enough for my needs.
Bad Sector said,

Here is an interview about it:
http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29743/Interview_Runic_CEO_On_Torchlight_II_Digital_Strengths.php
Robyrt said,

Peer-to-peer matchmaking strikes warning bells in my head, as that kind of system torpedoed the launch of Demigod. They ended up having to build a server farm from scratch over Easter weekend, because a lot of PC owners are behind some wacky security scheme that requires a server to initiate any p2p connections.
Tesh said,

Considering that most MMO “grouping” is done with just a few people anyway (and “pick up groups” are almost universally denigrated), peer-to-peer multiplayer may well be smarter anyway. For all practical purposes, that’s what WoW’s Dungeon Finder is, for that matter.
Torghlight Dungeon Finder « Tish Tosh Tesh said,

[…] 5, 2010 by Tesh Hat tip to the Rampant Coyote on […]