We are delighted to announce that Radiant Entertainment has been acquired by Riot Games. At Riot, our developers will continue their mission of building incredible games that speak to us personally as players. You’re probably wondering what this means for our games.
First and foremost, Stonehearth will go on, full speed ahead. We’ll continue delivering Alphas at our current pace, with the aim of delivering the final game “when it’s ready.” We’ll continue keeping you up to date on our progress through things like our Twitch streams and Desktop Tuesday blog posts.
As for Rising Thunder, the team will start work on a new game that we’re incredibly excited about. We wish we could say more now, but rest assured you’ll hear more when the time is right. For now, we will be closing the Rising Thunder Alpha on March 18th. Thanks to everyone who participated in the test!
And more broadly, to everyone who has helped support us by playing Stonehearth and Rising Thunder, backing our Kickstarter, telling your friends, and giving us your feedback: Thank you for helping us make these games as good as they can be. You have been a consistent source of motivation and inspiration for us, and we look forward to continuing to talk and work with you in the future.
Well, congratulations. Only question that comes to mind is how much influence over Stonehearth the new owner has. If, for some reason, they feel like development isn’t going to cash in enough revenue later on to warrant continued work on it, could they just trash it like it just happend with Microsoft and Lionheart?
And assuming Stonehearth will get finished some time in the future, could they decide to make it F2P and flood it with micro transactions?
So, in short, do you still have full control over your IP or did Riot acquire everything fully?
On the plus side it sounds like funding is kinda secured. The above thoughts do make me worried a little, though.
@SachielMF, thanks! Riot thinks Stonehearth is pretty cool, and has told us that they are dedicated to letting us continue with the game as we have planned.
Congratulations Radiant!! Two awesome companies joining forces can only be good for both. I know it’s early but can you guys explain any of the benefits we’ll see from this event?
As long as it’s not going to change the direction or vision for Stonehearth, good on you guys! You definitely deserve recognition for all of the talent and hard work put into Stonehearth the last few years.
This is unexpected to say the least. Out of left field seems appropriate.
First, I am glad you guys are partnered with such a big name company like Riot Games. I play League and I enjoy the game, so I think you guys will do great things.
It really sucks that it had to happen to RT, cause I enjoyed that game quite a bit and was waiting to see what all you were gonna do with it. Sad to see it go.
Anything beyond that is basically just speculation and things Radiant can’t go into cause of legal stuff. I do have a couple things though. Has any change to the Stonehearth team been made? Assuming the RT team is going straight to work for Riot after the shutdown, does that impact how many members are on the Stonehearth team? Will Riot be allocating any additional resources to Stonehearth, or just leave it as is to chug along? Im assuming we can’t get any straight answers, but it doesnt hurt to ask.
There are a lot of good synergies between Riot and the Rising Thunder team. From that perspective, the acquisition makes sense, and Stonehearth is mostly along for the ride.
Everyone currently working on Stonehearth continues to work on Stonehearth. I expect that Tom and Tony will be (and have been) a bit busier than they used to be, what with all the new paperwork they have to do, but to Albert, Chris, Yang, Linda, Brad and I, today is comfortingly much like yesterday; we are all fixing bugs on Alpha 15, and looking forward to all the things we want to do in A16 and beyond. There may be some bumps in the next month as we figure out our new HR/Payroll/Benefits/etc systems, and go down to LA for Riot’s regular new employee orientation, but otherwise, we will be right here, online with you all, as we always are.
I’m just really worried about this even if Riot said Stonehearth has full support ahead. I really despise big companies as at some point they hit an event horizon where the only thing that becomes important is income, LoL being the only and perfect example.
I really don’t want Radiant to be corrupted by similar philosophies. I’ve seen too many companies I love be bought and lost. Westwood and Rare are prime examples.
I mean not to pry or show disrespect, just a really concerned fan is all.
Only question that comes to mind is how much influence over Stonehearth the new owner has. If, for some reason, they feel like development isn’t going to cash in enough revenue later on to warrant continued work on it, could they just trash it like it just happend with Microsoft and Lionheart?
