The saga of Rune 2 continues this week as the game’s publisher, Ragnarok, has begun a lawsuit against its developer, Human Head Studios.
If you haven’t been keeping up with the situation to date, Rune 2 launched just last month after an extended period of development under Human Head, who immediately closed down and re-opened as a Bethesda-owned company called Roundhouse Studios. A major problem during this odd and sudden move was that Ragnarok had no idea that it was going to happen, leaving them without the capability to support the game fully post-launch.
Now, Ragnarok is taking steps to sue Human Head both for its actions during the development of Rune 2 – where it says the team were responsible for “delays, errors, and mismanagement” – and for being kept in the dark about the developer’s Bethesda acquisition.
Via Ragnarok:
“Roundhouse Studios and Human Head have the same exact business address: 1741 Commercial Ave, Madison, Wisconsin. The same Human Head team of employees and principals in the same physical location were reborn as Bethesda’s Roundhouse Studios within days after the launch of Rune 2.
“Ragnarok was completely unaware of any of these developments and only learned about them from the press, along with the rest of the gaming community. In fact, when Ragnarok had asked Human Head on the November 8 call if Ragnarok could reach out to former Human Head employees, Gokey said that ‘would be a problem.’ The problem Gokey knew (but didn’t mention) was that those employees were or would soon be Bethesda employees.”
Ragnarok has since “repeatedly requested access to the final launch build source code and Rune 2 game assets” to no avail, and so will now pursue $100 million in compensation.
Wireframe #28 is out now
