Torchlight II to "ideally" launch a month after Diablo III release, says Runic CEO

Runic Games CEO Max Schaffer has told Joystiq it wants to "ideally" release Torchlight II around a month after the release of Diablo III, but noted it won't race Blizzard to the finish line.

"Well, I'm sure you've noticed Diablo has announced a date. So, we don't want to fall right on that," said Schafer, speaking at PAX East this past weekend, referring to the recent confirmation of a May release for Blizzard's effort.

"The real answer is when [Torchlight 2] is finished, is Diablo 3 right now? Then we'll wait."

Schafer said the additional dev time will mean more polish for the game, adding the game will have an offline mode, LAN and modding support.

He added, regardless of when the release is, he wants fans to just "be patient".

"Our total development time on this game is going to be about two years, which is not unreasonably long for this type of game," said Schafer. "We're going as fast as we can. It'll be worth the wait, it'll totally be worth the wait. In the long run, people will be happy we took this extra time."

Blizzard will release Diablo III on May 15 worldwide.