Torchlight Frontiers is being renamed to Torchlight III. Along with the name change will be a change in the business model (from a free to play MMO to a buy to play one with a “premium” model; that is a box price with all of the content). The game will also be releasing on Steam instead of Perfect Worlds Arc platform. Max Schaefer provides more details in the video below.
IMHO, this is most definitely the correct decision. The world environment of Frontiers was lacking since it’s design was defined by trying to make it this hybrid shared world (essentially an MMO lite but one that had a tendency to lack personality and often times, rarely seeing any other players anyway). Going back to its spiritual roots (an actual ARPG) is what will make the game shine since that is the overall strength of the team that Schaefer has assembled.
The other game that saw a name change is TERA Frontier (the mobile version of TERA that is being developed by Krafton’s Red Sahara Studio subsidiary). In this case, the name change is IMHO, a less than stellar one; TERA HERO.
Previously, the objective for Frontier was to replicate the PC story line into this mobile version. It seems they are now revising this to take place in an era prior to the PC version. The game is in the final stages of development where more info will be shared by March.
