Given the void of announcements recently, those following Torchlight 2 closely were likely already expecting this news, but Runic Games have now officially confirmed that the game won't be seeing a 2011 release after all.

In a blog post on the game's official site, Runic's Travis Baldree explains why they need a little more time and also seems to acknowledge that it might not be the best idea to drop their budget-priced indie title at a time when we're all preoccupied with a huge stable of triple-A games.

The first Torchlight was released in record time, but it had plenty of issues that a little more development could have resolved. We didn't have the resources at the time to give Torchlight that treatment. Right at this moment though, we do have those resources for the sequel, and we feel strongly that we should apply them to make this the best game we can make and hopefully one that you'll enjoy and continue to want to play in the future. We've probably had 18 months of full development time on it so far - not excessively long yet, as far as that goes. The amount of time we need to take it the rest of the way is relatively small.

We feel pretty safe in saying that if you enjoyed Torchlight at all, this sequel is superior in every respect. Right now our job is to ensure that the quality level is consistent all the way to the end.

Besides, you're all playing Skyrim right now anyway, aren't you? Or Battlefield 3? Or Uncharted 3? Or Saints Row 3? Or Arkham City? Or Skyward Sword? Or Minecraft? Or Modern Warfare 3? Or Dark Souls? Or Assassin's Creed Revelations?

No new release window has been given, so it's going to be interesting to see if the Torchlight 2 team -- which sports several ex-Blizzard North veterens -- can still beat the very similar and hugely anticipated Diablo 3 to market.