Runic Games is scheduled to launch its Torchlight MMO in late 2012 or early 2013, according to an earnings call with Perfect World's Kelvin Lau. Perfect World, a Chinese MMO developer, owns a majority share of Runic and recently acquired the majority interest of Cryptic Studios, which plans to release Neverwinter in the same timeframe as Torchlight, Lau said.

Runic still hopes to launch Torchlight 2 this year. Depending on its sales, the release schedule of its MMO cousin may move, either pushed back so Runic has more time to pamper its success or shoved forward so Runic can hide its screw-up, CEO Max Schaefer said.