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Rune II: Decapitation Edition - abandoned by Human Head Studios, still causing drama

Infinitron

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Human Head Studios first accused Bethesda of cancelling PREY 2 as a retaliation for a failed attempt at a hostile take over. Now this. Honestly, I think these guys are full of shit.

How many well received games have they made? One?

This complaint is not from Human Head (whose staff now work for Bethesda). It's from a different company that paid them to make Rune 2.
 

thesheeep

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Why would Bethesda feel threatened by what is essentially a lame survival-RPG-clone oddly named "Rune".
Neither what Rune II actually was nor what it should have been (you know, a game that actually resembles Rune) are very similar to any Elder Scrolls game.

This makes 0 sense.
 

Avarize

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Human Head Studios first accused Bethesda of cancelling PREY 2 as a retaliation for a failed attempt at a hostile take over. Now this. Honestly, I think these guys are full of shit.

How many well received games have they made? One?
The joke is that Bethesda ended up hostile taken over by microsoft.
A hostile take over of a privately held company? It was just a purchase.
 

Major_Blackhart

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You also have to remember that they were owned by Zenimax. More than likely:

A) Zenimax Execs got Beth mgmt to do a lot of shady shit over the years
B) Zenimax Execs saw the writing on the wall that something was coming down the line
C) Zenimax Execs decided it was too much hassle / risk to deal with potentially diminishing returns of a video game company

One thing you have to remember with corp execs nowadays is that it's always about the short term. They don't give a fuck about anything past the 18 month mark traditionally, partly because the market is really too fluid and fast (it would require a shitton of effort), lack of sustainable leadership (a lot of execs only last a few years before getting the boot / moving on), and pure greed (salaries are limited due to tax structure, so they get a minimum bonus to make up for that, PLUS a scaling bonus for hitting certain marks each period).

Essentially, they're encouraged to do whatever it takes to make money NOW NOW NOW, even if it means a potential lawsuit down the line. After all, they probably won't be around to deal with the headache of the aftermath, and if they are they can always just sell the troublesome asset, net a profit, and let it be someone else's problem.
 

Ezeekiel

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Of course a real successor to Rune was just too fucking much to ask for... I guess DS is the closest, in a way.
 

Hines

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Watched some of Sinatar's stream and this is looking VERY rough.
 

ADL

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This looks a million times better than what released. Faint praise but at least it resembles something vaguely playable now.
 

ADL

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Why would Bethesda feel threatened by what is essentially a lame survival-RPG-clone oddly named "Rune".
Neither what Rune II actually was nor what it should have been (you know, a game that actually resembles Rune) are very similar to any Elder Scrolls game.

This makes 0 sense.
Agreed the case was presented incredibly poorly but they were complicit in this whole scheme that is scummy as fuck. Just because the people involved abandoned ship to join Zenimax together under a different name shouldn't allow them to walk away without repercussions. Remember, the publisher who financed this whole shit show didn't know about any of this until release day, I believe they even said they learned about it from the announcement ping in the Discord server for Rune 2. Human Head released it in a completely broken state and refused to hand over the source code to the publisher so they couldn't even patch critical issues for several weeks.

Might be missing some key details but if I'm remotely close to the real story here, I hope everyone responsible suffers greatly.
 

Hines

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An ex dev said there was more to the behind-the-scenes trouble than the publisher have let on, but regardless of where the blame lies both Rune parties receive zero sympathy from me for choosing to release a terrible, broken game. I think the new caretakers of Rune will get their ass handed to them in court after implicating Zenimax in the lawsuit.

 

Infinitron

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Trump election lawsuit energy: https://www.pcgamer.com/rune-2-laws...-ask-for-dollar100-million-a-lawyer-tells-us/

Rune 2 lawsuit update: 'It makes complete sense' to ask for $100 million, a lawyer tells us
Ragnarok Game is suing Bethesda and Human Head Studios for sabotaging the game, and it wants an awful lot of money.

In December 2019, Rune 2 publisher Ragnarok Game filed a lawsuit against Human Head Studios, alleging that it actively attempted to sabotage the game by very publicly abandoning it on launch day. In October 2020, it amended the suit to include Bethesda Softworks and ZeniMax, which effectively acquired and rebranded Human Head as Roundhouse Studios on the very same day that it announced its closure. Ragnarok is seeking at least $100 million in compensatory damages.

It's a very strange case to say the least—you can get a more in-depth look at what's going on in our July interview with Rune 2 executive producer Matt Candler and Ragnarok general counsel Sam Goldberg—and it left us with a lot of questions, one of the most obvious being where Ragnarok came up with the $100 million figure. It seems like a lot of money over complications with the launch of a Viking brawler, but part of the foundation for that figure likely arises from comparisons between Rune 2 and Bethesda's storied, multi-million-selling RPG Skyrim.

With respect to everyone involved, it seems like a real stretch: Skyrim is part of The Elder Scrolls series, one of the biggest and most successful RPG game series of all time, and it's also now nine years old and well past the point where it needs to hustle for top spot. Still, it's a point that Ragnarok Game leaned into in its updated lawsuit, saying that after ZeniMax and Bethesda were able to play a pre-release build of Rune 2, they decided that it posed a "threat" to Skyrim, and The Elder Scrolls as a whole.

"One early review of Rune 2 described it as 'Skyrim on steroids'," the suit says. "The hit videogame Skyrim is part of Bethesda's Elder Scrolls franchise and was developed and published by Bethesda and its affiliates. This review signalled to Bethesda and ZeniMax that one of their biggest cash cows was under threat."

To get some context, we asked Voyer Law Corporation founder Kellen Voyer, who is not involved with the case, what he thought of Ragnarok's $100M ask.

"When the defendants have deep pockets, it makes complete sense to seek a large amount as damages," Voyer wrote in an email. "The fact that they are seeking damages of $100 million is just an ask—real payout depends on the jury finding in their favour and agreeing with the damage amount sought. Plus, any damage award that large would likely be challenged on appeal. Many cases ultimately don’t go to trial so seeking a large amount for damages provides a good starting point for a settlement, which would most likely be a smaller amount.

"The claim that Rune 2 was a 'threat to Skyrim franchise' adds to the claim's narrative by providing an underlying motive for all the other alleged conduct. Why go through the alleged plotting and planning, prior to release, and the very real risk of a lawsuit (as seen here) just to acquire a development team unless there’s a material benefit to Bethesda, beyond just the team? Most defunct studios are not of significant value to justify structuring the purchase in a way so as to risk an expensive lawsuit, regardless of the merits of that suit. Ultimately, it's this alleged motive that the claim uses to explain this conduct."

If the $100 million figure is strategic, Ragnarok isn't letting on. Candler told us that much of the "mountain of evidence" bolstering his claim remains confidential and can't be shared outside of the court, but added that ZeniMax and Bethesda have a "long track record" of underhanded behavior when it comes to dealing with competitors, and that he looks forward to "exposing the truth."

"In our situation, Bethesda took a sudden interest in Human Head only after playing an early version of the Rune II. And after apparently very little diligence, Bethesda and Zenimax acquired Human Head in such a way that it was impossible for Human Head to deliver the game it promised to us and to the fans," Candler said in an email. "There is no doubt that Human Head pitched a game concept and plan to us (Ragnarok Game LLC) that intended to peel market share away from Skyrim by offering a comparable experience but with coop functionality."

Candler said the behavior of both Human Head and ZeniMax before and after the launch of Rune 2, as alleged in the amended lawsuit, is evidence that there's more to the matter than simply acquiring a new studio: Human Head provided ZeniMax and Bethesda with unauthorized preview access to the game before it launched, the Human Head team became Bethesda employees more than a week before Rune 2 went live, and the dissolution of Human Head was kept secret from Ragnarok Game until the press announcement rolled out.

"Since filing this lawsuit, we have learned new details that have dramatically strengthened our case," Candler said. "On one hand, it is shocking and disappointing to realize the lengths they went to sabotage Rune 2. On the other hand, it has strengthened our resolve to give our fans a fun game that they can enjoy for years to come."

Bethesda Softworks has declined to comment on the matter.

While the lawsuit works its way through the courts, development of Rune 2 has continued with a new developer, Studio 369, which was formed after the game's launch in order to ensure its continued support. Rune 2's prospects immediately after launch didn't look great—Human Head not only went out of business on launch day, it also failed to hand over the game's source code—but after a year as an Epic Games Store exclusive, it went live earlier this month on Steam as the Rune 2 Decapitation Edition.

The updated edition features an array of additions and enhancements, which Candler credited in our July interview to both Epic's support and the team of "fucking Unreal wizards" who were hired to support the game, and eventually formed the nucleus of Studio 369. Highlights include the addition of a new story with 250-plus new quests, 50-plus new NPCs with voice acting, a new skill tree, six new dungeons (with more in development), and "significantly increased optimization and framerates."

Unfortunately, there have been some headaches related to that last point, as a studio rep said they've encountered "some unforeseen optimization issues" with the Steam release. That's reflected in the "mixed" user reviews, many of which complain about the game's technical state. Even positive reviews carry caveats: One of my favourites, from Steam user mantisenator, says, "I'll admit it's jank as heck, but it's also fun as heck so I give it a recommend."

Studio 369 has continued to work on it since, however, and the rep said the dev team "wants to assure the community [of] the continued support," and that it will not be abandoned.

A detailed breakdown of completed, in-development, and upcoming fixes and changes is available via the Rune 2 development roadmap. Ragnarok also recently announced new "wolf gear set" DLC that will be free for all players, as a token of thanks for the community's continued support.
 

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