As part of their first quarter 2010 earnings report, Chinese MMO publisher and developer Perfect World Entertainment announced today that they have acquired a majority stake in development startup Runic Games. The company invested $8.4 million in Runic, cementing a relationship that began when Perfect World published Runic’s first title, the Diablo-style dungeon crawler Torchlight. That game has gone on to sell 500,000 units within the first six months.
"As a part of our growth strategy, we continuously monitor the market for acquisition opportunities that will generate synergies with our core business," said Perfect World CEO Michael Chi. "We recently made a strategic investment to acquire a majority stake in Runic Games, a top-tier game development studio based in the U.S., to further strengthen our R&D capabilities. By collaborating more closely with Runic's professional team, we seek to combine their creativity and expertise in game development with our deep understanding of the online game market to create global titles."
Runic Games was started by ex-Blizzard founder Max Schaefer and is comprised of former Diablo lead developers. Torchlight is considered the first in a series, with the forthcoming title in development aiming to be an MMO, a space that Perfect World has experience in.
