Perfect World, a China-based developer and publisher of several MMOs, revealed today it has acquired "a majority stake" in Runic Games for approximately $8.4 million. Runic is the studio that spawned from the ashes of Hellgate: London's Flagship Studios and is best-known for Torchlight, its single-player Diablo-inspired action-RPG. Previously, in April 2009, Runic had entered an agreement that made Perfect World the exclusive worldwide publisher of Torchlight.

Considering Perfect World is primarily an MMO publisher, it's fairly obvious the company gobbled up the majority stake in Runic in anticipation of the developer's Torchlight MMO, which is reportedly about two years away. With this acquisition, Perfect World has stated that it seeks to "create global titles" -- so more Hot Dance Party MMOs then?