Did Human Head Studios pull a fast one?
The publishers of Rune 2, Ragnarok Games, are not pleased with how the game’s launch last month went down. Shortly after the action RPG game went live last month, the developers working on the game, Human Head Studios, shut down.
However, a day later, it re-opened as Bethesda-owned Roundhouse Studios. Now, Ragnarok is responding with a lawsuit, stating that the developer abandoned the project.
The lawsuit notes that the developer had initially set “milestones” to be met with Rune 2. However, the list expanded from 11 to 23, mainly because of “delays, errors, and mismanagement.” Ragnarok noted it paid for all of these, but not only were they not met, but Human Head Studios became “uncommunicative and unavailable.”
The COO of Human Head, Ben Gokey, told the publisher that it was closing its doors right before the game’s release. However, it made no mention of the acquisition by Bethesda at the time.
What’s more, Ragnarok states that the studio refused to provide finalized source code and game assets back, making it near impossible to deliver on the promised post-launch content.
“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,” Ragnarock detailed in the suit. “It also notes that Human Head is deliberately holding back assets to “coerce Ragnarok to make payments for Human Head’s incomplete deliverables.”
With the suit, Ragnarok Game hopes to get back its game properties, along with financing for development and $100 million in compensation.
Neither Bethesda nor Human Head have commented on the matter.
