Publisher Ragnarok receives Rune 2 source code

The source code for newly released Rune 2 has been passed on to its publisher, Ragnarok.

Human Head Studios shuttered just a day after it released its final game, Rune 2. While the developer confirmed it was forced to “close its doors”, it did not specify at the time why the closure was necessary, and Rune 2 publisher Ragnarok insists it was not privy to closure in advance, which meant the studio’s cessation came as “shocking news“.

While the publisher confirmed at the time that it was committed to keeping the game updated, it did not have the game’s source code in order to share with prospective studios interested in inheriting the project. Consequently, Ragnarok filed a $100 million (£75.9m) lawsuit against Human Head and three of its co-founders that accused the studio of breach of contract and fraud.

Now, however, it seems the assets have finally been passed on to Ragnarok.

“Late last week, we received a hard drive containing the Rune 2 assets and source code,” “Rune Mitch” said on behalf of Ragnarok on the Rune II forums (thanks, GI.biz). “We have brought on engineers to check the thoroughness of materials and ensure the hard drive has all Rune II files. 

“Currently we have set up a build, test, and staging environment. Once we have confirmed that we are able to make a complete build of the current version of Rune 2 (.12L), we are going to begin working on a patch to address the top critical issues, bugs, and optimizations that we have seen reported over the last month and a half.

“As always, thanks for sticking with us and being fans of Rune 2.”

The entire Human Head team was brought on by Bethesda Software in new Wisconsin venture, Roundhouse Studios. 

“Sadly, we had to wind down the business of Human Head Studios and close its doors, which was particularly devastating due to the passion and creativity of the team we’d assembled,” Chris Rhinehart, former project lead and co-founder at Human Head, said at the time. “We reached out to our friends at Bethesda for help, and they saw that same creativity and passion in our team. With the formation of Roundhouse Studios, Bethesda offered every employee of Human Head a position at the new company. 

“We are excited our team will remain together, pursuing the work we love, as part of a company we already know and admire.”