Longtime Runescape developer Jagex has been sold again, this time to the second largest private equity firm in the world, the Carlyle Group. This is the third time it's been sold since 2016, which could say all sorts of things about the way it's been run and the future of its flagship Runescape property. In this instance though, Jagex claims that the move will see much greater investment made in Runescape moving forward.
With billions in potential financial backing, the possibility is certainly there.
The final price for Jagex hasn't been revealed, but it's suggested to have been higher than the over half a billion that previous owner, Macarthur spent when it purchased the developer in 2020.
Jagex CEO, Phil Mansell, said the studio was "proud" to be partnering with the Carlyle Group. "We will continue to create exciting experiences for our players, grow our global communities, build new games to expand and further explore the RuneScape universe, lend our expertise to publish third-party games from like-minded online game developers, and invest in the incredible tech and talent that powers this all."
Runescape turns 20 this year, marking one of the longest-running RPG universes in the MMO genre. Carlyle claims to be interested in expanding the game far further than it's ever gone before, whilst continuing to enable the classic versions which have retained such extreme popularity in recent years — even reaching peak player numbers towards the end of 2020.
