Reuters is reporting that Shanghai Fukong International plans to sell its partial or full stock in RuneScape developer Jagex at some time presumably in the near future. Shanghai Fukong International was formed in 2016 and is a venture capital firm that bought all investments from Jagex’s previous investors for a 100% stake in the developer to the tune of $300 million USD.
Previous Jagex investors include Insight Venture Partners, The Raine Group, and Spectrum Equity Investors (source).
RuneScape is well known for its constantly changing landscape and design philosophy, weekly content updates will do that to you. The completion capes involve a long list of achievements in-game. As a show of their difficulty, these caps also happen to be best in slot stats and utility, which has made them almost mandatory for player vs monster activities.
This week’s poll is asking if players want to change that. There are two versions of the poll, one for players who have achieved the completion cape and one for those who never have. The sample questions below are for those who have never owned a completion cape.
The poll is accessible within RuneScape and will be live for another week. Jagex did note that this is not a guaranteed content poll, so the results are not guaranteed to lead to changes.
Jagex has given a statement on an incident that took place over the weekend in which RuneScape streamer Aus Swag was banned from both Twitch and RuneScape for conduct during a live stream. Aus Swag called an individual live on air, one that he knew to be suicidal, and told her “I think you should just kill yourself, honestly.”
RuneScape community manager Mod Shauny posted a statement distancing itself from Aus Swag, noting that they do not and never have had a business relationship with him.
This morning we became aware that over the weekend a RuneScape player had live streamed himself calling a vulnerable individual who had admitted they were having suicidal thoughts, telling that person to kill themselves. The RuneScape player is not someone with whom Jagex has – or ever had – a business relationship but given the incredibly serious nature of the incident we have taken measures that make it clear such behaviour will not be tolerated.
As a result, the individual has had their RuneScape account permanently banned with immediate effect. Jagex is incredibly passionate about mental health and wellbeing, and we will continue to do all we can to help those in our community – and beyond – receive the support they need to overcome the mental health challenges they face in their day-to-day lives.
Aus Swag posted an apology to Twitter in which he claimed that the microphone was muted during his comment and that he did not intend to put her at risk. He also donated $200 to a charity centered around suicide prevention.
Im Sorry. pic.twitter.com/HZ9Kt3FJQ0
— Aus Swag (@SwagAus) January 21, 2019
With the launch of RuneScape on mobile devices, Jagex this week announced that they will be changing their policy in regards to how the company approaches mobile app developers using RuneScape’s IP to create unofficial companion programs. In a post published this week, the UK developer stated that they will be reaching out to app developers to discuss applying for a license to use the IP, and may seek removal of apps that do not meet their standards.
We are in the process of reviewing existing unofficial and unlicensed mobile apps and as a part of this process, we will be reaching out to the developers of existing mobile apps which utilise our IP, to explain our rights and we may give certain app owners the opportunity to discuss and apply for a licence to use our IP in relation to their existing app.
In cases where unofficial apps in our opinion do not meet our requirements or standards, or where license terms cannot be agreed we will seek their removal from mobile stores. We are constantly reviewing and updating the use of our IP and it is important to note that this current review only affects mobile apps.
Please note this is only for existing apps, and we will not be accepting any licence requests for new apps. If you have a current live mobile app, we will contact you in the near future.
Source: RuneScape.com
In celebration of its eighteenth birthday, Jagex has overhauled two of its oldest skills this week as mining and smithing are updated to be more in line with the last decade of updates. Both skills have been optimized and made more user-friendly and useful with powerful new masterwork armors being made available.
David Osborne, lead designer, stated:
“Reaching our 18th anniversary is an incredible milestone and it’s apt two of the original skills that launched way back in 2001 have been given a new lease of life. The Mining & Smithing update has been a thoroughly collaborative effort with the community, with polls and beta tests providing invaluable input as we fine-tuned and polished the new mechanics and armour.”
An overhaul to mining and smithing has been voted among the most requested RuneScape updates for the past few years. More details on the update can be found at the main RuneScape website.
Source: RuneScape
RuneScape is officially 18 years old, old enough to vote and in many countries even drink, but Jagex today announced that its flagship title is entering adulthood at an all-time high. According to the Cambridge developer, RuneScape is enjoying its strongest year to date, with more than five million downloads on Old School RuneScape on iOS and Android since launch. In addition to this record, RuneScape is also enjoying the highest paid membership total over the Christmas period since 2008, while lifetime revenue for RuneScape surpassed $1 billion.
Jagex CEO Phil Mansell said:
“2018 was a fantastic year for our RuneScape games, which have truly come of age. The franchise has been growing consistently for five years, and we’ve seen a surge of further community growth with the move to mobile. Old School RuneScape’s successful mobile launch was made possible by our incredible team who’ve been able to make this classic game play smoothly in a mobile form-factor, and which allows players to enjoy the convenience of completely interoperable PC to mobile cross-play. This achievement showcases our living games philosophy; bringing deeply engaging community experiences to players wherever they are.”
Jagex has hired more than 100 new members to the team, while monthly active users have more than doubled over the year.
Source: Jagex Press Release
Remember the bank rework? The one Jagex teased for release back in 2016? Temper your expectations, because it isn’t coming out.
Mod Shauny took the time to post over to Reddit a couple of days ago that the bank rework has been shelved and won’t be worked on for the foreseeable future. In short, the project turned out to be simply too complex, and the team decided to focus on smaller engine re-works that have been requested over the years.
As shauny summarized:
The announcement has left quite a few angry players over the fact that Jagex knew that the rework was not going to be possible “a few months” after Runefest 2016, but chose to wait over two years to communicate this to the customer base while still pretending that the update was still in the works.
For years now RuneScape has had a bit of a problem with its mini-games, namely that there have been a lot of them added throughout the years and very few are actually populated by any traffic. Couple that with the fact that many of these mini-games include rewards, and you simply have a growing list of virtually unobtainable items. Back in 2015, Jagex introduced the minigame spotlight, adding a Thaler currency and rotating spotlight to showcase various minigames and encourage people to play them.
It didn’t work out so well and Jagex has been slowly datamining and determining which minigames are played enough to remain in-game and which ones need to get the boot. Unfortunately Mobilising Armies is the latest game on the chopping block. The minigame was removed as part of today’s update, with Jagex detailing how the rewards will be disbursed to remain accessible to players:
(Source: RuneScape)
It is December and that officially means that RuneScape is in full holiday swing. For the month of December and into January, Jagex is rolling out holiday weekends with various buffs and bonuses. You can check out the link at the bottom of this article to see what is in store, the first holiday weekend is already up and running.
In addition, players can log in every day to grab a new reward from the Advent Calendar.
(Source: RuneScape)
It is November and that means time for a new annual premier club sale. RuneScape’s premier club generally goes on sale from mid-late November and stays available until early February.
Perks for this year’s premier club include:
Premier club can be purchased with five bonds (Bronze, 3 month), 10 bonds (Silver, 6 months), or 20 bonds (Gold, 12 months) or for $27.99, $49.99, and $89.99 respectively. Please note that most of the rewards listed above are exclusive to gold tier subscribers. Click here for more information on rewards for each tier. Mobile subscribers are not able to sign up for premier club.
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