iGame Radio

Runic Games is celebrating their one year anniversary of the release of Torchlight with a big 50% off sale of Torchlight. Which would be great news, if you owned a PC. But we don’t…so we get to pay the entire 100%.

This is because the Mac version is distributed via Steam, and the rules for that version are different. I spoke to Wonder Russell, the PR guru for Runic Games, about how this all works. Though Runic Games sets the initial basic price for their game, Valve determines when sales, promotions, etc happens and discounts occur.

“However, Steam sales, promotions, giveaways, etc, or whether or not we’re on their front page, are entirely at their discretion,” said Russell. “We generally keep each other in the loop because it’s polite, good business, and the right thing to do, but a Torchlight anniversary sale is not really a Steam event as much as a Runic event.”

So even though Runic Games would love to offer the Mac version at 50% off to celebrate, they can’t because they don’t control the distribution of the Mac game beyond the basic price.

However, I will say that a little birdie twittered in my ear the other day something about a Thanksgiving sale on Steam, so maybe we’ll get a reprieve after all.