Rumors have been spreading for the past year about Fukong Interactive selling Jagex, the company responsible for the classic isometric MMORPG RuneScape, but they’ve only been that; unsubstantiated rumors that spread across mediums being reported as fact by hopefuls looking to be the first to publish news. Now, it’s officially been verified yesterday: Jagex has been sold to a US-based management firm Macarthur Fortune Holding.
What this precisely means for the fans of the undying and unwavering MMO RuneScape is likely minimal, all things considered.
Jagex will continue operating through their Cambridge headquarters that they’ve operated from in the past, it’s likely that the biggest change for Jagex revolves around who is signing paychecks for whom.
Yet an influx of cash for RuneScape is difficult to posit as an overall negative for fans of the title in its many flavors; it’s more than plausible that Jagex could announce massive content upcoming for the MMO based only on the idea that they are once again secure within a parent company. Once developers know that their paychecks are safe, creativity tends to come in spades. Still, many are alleging that the company sold Jagex to a different arm of the company, passing the IP to itself to change its base of operations from China to the United States.
Many fans are hoping that microtransactions within RuneScape 3 will finally get the ax, as the microtransactions consistently interrupt natural progression to push even more transactions on its players, resulting in one of the most frustrating MMO experiences out of the top five MMO’s at this time. It’s very unlikely, however; fans have repeatedly called for the microtransactions to be removed with little success.
This comes off the back of RuneScape reaching a colossal 1.1 million paid subscribers in 2019, as reported by Kenny Kimberly in January.
Precisely what will await RuneScape players in the near future is anyone’s guess, if anything will outside of standard operations. RuneScape has shown itself time and again to be one of the strongest MMOs in terms not only of resistance but a consistent player base that grows across multiple iterations of the primary title. From RuneScape 3 to Oldschool RuneScape (OSRS), there continues to be a supporting segment of consumers that are eager to continue to patron Jagex games, whoever they may ultimately belong to. We’ll likely hear the next upcoming announcements about what to expect from the future in the early Summer of 2020.
