Runic co-founders announce departure

Torchlight studio Runic Games will see industry veterans Travis Baldree and Erich Schaefer exit the company they helped co-found back in 2008, the pair have confirmed.

Posting on Runic’s forums, Baldree announced his impending departure, adding that his last day at the company will be April 2nd.

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,” Baldree wrote.

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.”

Baldree and Schaefer appear to have left on amicable terms with the company, as they gear up to start their own indie studio Double Damage Games.

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,” Baldree said.

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.”

Runic was formed in 2008 by Baldree, Blizzard North founders Erich and Max Schaefer, and Peter Hu. Hu and Max Schaefer, Runic’s current CEO, will apparently continue on at the studio. The developer created the popular action-RPG Torchlight and its sequel, Torchlight II.