Rune 2 released last year and seemed to have done quite well for itself, but the story surrounding it, sadly, was not a positive one. There was heavy dispute between the publisher and developer of the title, one that saw Ragnarok suing Human Head Studios for the game’s source code and assets, a lawsuit in which they ultimately won and have continued to try and improve the game. But it seems as if the ride doesn’t stop there, as now the scope of the issues with Rune 2 are allegedly much bigger and involves a pretty big name.

If you don’t recall, eyebrows were raised when the game’s original developer, Human Head Studios, shut down shortly after Rune 2‘s release and reformed as Roundhouse Studios under publisher Bethesda. Well, it seems in the ongoing lawsuit, Ragnarok is alleging that Bethesda and their then parent company, Zenimax (this occurred before the Microsoft buyout) sabotaged the game’s development, forming a new subsidiary with Human Head Studios and ordering those workers to stop all production on Rune 2 as well as purchased all of its equipment before the game’s launch. The details come via GamesIndustry.

“In an act of utter bad faith and contractual breach of confidentiality requirements, Human Head secretly provided Bethesda and ZeniMax with ‘keys’ that permitted it to play a confidential, pre-release version of Rune 2. This enabled Bethesda and ZeniMax to see for themselves the threat that Rune 2 posed to their hit franchise, Skyrim/Elder Scrolls.

“Two weeks prior to launch of Rune 2, ZeniMax secretly formed a new subsidiary, Roundhouse Studios LLC, and used that company to purchase all of Human Head’s equipment and take over its leases. That equipment contained Plaintiffs’ trade secrets, the source code and materials for Rune 2 and Oblivion Song. In that same time frame, in order to complete a de facto merger, ZeniMax arranged to have all employees dismissed from Human Head and hired by ZeniMax.”

To add to all of this, even though Ragnarok did get the source code back eventually as mentioned above, they state in the lawsuit, “the assets that ultimately were transferred were incomplete and unusable. Indeed, it appears as if Defendants with malicious intent deliberately organized the assets in such a way as to ensure they were as indecipherable and unusable as possible.” They are seeking damages no less than $100 million.

It’s quite the story, and who knows how that will shake out. Bethesda is now fully owned by Microsoft even if all of this was alleged to happen well before that acquisition. How that will or won’t affect this is anyone’s guess. Either way, Rune 2 is available now on PC via the Epic Games Store with a Steam release set to come next month. We’ll keep you updated as more details trickle down.

It was a long time coming, but Rune 2 finally released last year. The adventure game based around Norse myth came to some mixed reviews, but overall the game performed well when it released on PC. The game, unfortunately, had a share of bad luck post-release when Human Head Studios was purchased by Bethesda, leaving a legal dispute between the developer and the publisher of Rune 2, Ragnarok. Well, it seems that dispute is now settled and the first patch is on its way.

Via a statement from Ragnarok’s new development team, they have acquired the source code for the game. While they don’t go into details as of yet, they do say the first major update can now be worked on. The game had a lot of issues that have gone unaddressed due to the legal battle. Now with it settled, hopefully those issues can be ironed out.

Rune 2 is available now exclusively on PC via the Epic Games Store with a Steam version planned sometime in 2020.

Human Head Studios have been well acquainted with major issues in the past, but a month ago, the developer officially shut down, before reforming under Bethesda as Roundhouse Studios. It was a curious turn of events, because their shuttering happened just a couple days after the launch of their newest game, Rune 2.

Meanwhile, Ragnarok LLC, the publisher of Rune 2, said in a statement that it had had no knowledge that Human Head was about to shut down, and that their shuttering was as much of a surprise for them as it was for everyone else. They did, however, promise that they would continue to support Rune 2 even in the absence of Human Head.

Now, however, it looks like that’s not exactly going to plan. It seems there’s trouble between employees of the former Human Head Studios and Ragnarok LLC, with the latter filing a legal complaint against the former for withholding assets of Rune 2, which are required for the game’s continued support.

“As mentioned previously, we had no warning that our long term partner and friends in this project would abandon it during its most crucial moment, leaving our team at Ragnarok Game LLC to shoulder both the development and publishing burden of launch all on its own,” the publisher wrote in a statement.

“Since Human Head’s sudden closure, announcement, and discovering the active concealment of their acquisition, we have repeatedly requested access to the final launch build source code and RUNE II game assets,” they added. “This is so we can continue to support, update, and execute future DLC for our community.

“As part of the publishing agreement on RUNE II, Ragnarok Game LLC has paid for the development of these assets and is the rightful owner of them. After repeated refusals by Human Head to produce these assets, we’ve had no choice but to file a legal complaint in order to obtain the RUNE II game assets. We have exhausted all possible options before getting to this point.  This is not the step we wanted to take, but it is necessary in order to fulfill our promises to our community.”

In their lawsuit, Ragnarok have demanded heavy damages, monetary and otherwise, including a $100 million compensation, the restitution of all money transacted by Ragnarok to Human Head, return of the game’s property, and more. Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more updates as this story develops.

Yesterday, Rune 2 developer Human Head Studios revealed that it had closed its doors. The announcement was shocking but even more shocking was the news that the entire studio was reforming as Roundhouse Studios under Bethesda. This has left current players asking about the future of Rune 2 which is currently available on the Epic Games Store for PC.

Publisher Ragnarok LLC allayed some of those fears on its forums, first announcing that the game’s demand “exceeded our expectations.” It then confirmed that support would continue for Rune 2. “Yesterday, we successfully launched RUNE II onto the Epic Games Store and the game’s demand has exceeded our expectations. We’re very thankful that everyone wants to play our game. First and foremost – we love this game and we will continue to support Rune 2.”

Of course, the announcement of Human Head Studios closing down was “shocking news” to the company. “There are several entities working on Rune 2 – we found out about this news when you did. Human Head had a longstanding agreement with Rune 2 publisher, Ragnarok Game, LLC, to provide ongoing support for the game. We are working quickly to resolve any current technical issues while we build the team that will execute the exciting planned future of Rune 2’s post-launch content strategy. We appreciate your patience and understanding while we work through any launch issues.”

The publisher then confirmed that work would continue to bring Rune 2 to other PC platforms (most likely referring to its Steam release) next year. It’s also excited to showcase the “future” of Rune 2 content. Where that could lead and what plans the publisher has remains to be seen as well as how the former Human Head Studios developers will handle things. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.