GB Feature: Runic Games Interview

With Mythos now in limbo, we fired over some questions to Runic Games’ Travis Baldree and Max Schaefer about their next massively multiplayer action RPG.

GB: Diablo III and Sacred 2 are only two of what will most likely be several upcoming competitors in the action RPG arena. With an action RPG/MMO focus, how do you intend to stay competitive with other big name releases?

Travis: I think it’s key for us to serve a different portion of the market. Mythos had started to tend heavily toward accentuating its social aspects, and more MMO features – auction houses, a shared overworld, crafting, and the like. While retaining our fast-action and hordes of enemies, we were becoming a much more community oriented game than we had previously been. I think that’s the space that Diablo III and Sacred 2 will probably skirt, and where we can succeed. Sticking with a free-to-play model with microtransactions could also be very important for us – there’s no lower barrier-to-entry than free!

Max: I’ll just add that as one of the creators of the Diablo franchise, all of us are very excited to see and play Diablo III. The Blizzard crew are a great bunch of guys and I’m sure they’ll do justice to the title.