The creators of RuneScape aim to dethrone World of Warcraft by 2031 and sound so megalomaniac that one could believe them.
What’s going on with RuneScape? The developers of RuneScape have made some changes under the new management to bring the dusty MMORPG genre back into the spotlight. This includes, for example, the elimination of pay-to-win elements from the game.
Things are currently going very well, and thanks to the packed roadmaps for the 25th anniversary of the franchise, the three titles, RuneScape, Old School RuneScape, and RuneScape Dragonwilds, are running smoothly.
Just recently, Old School RuneScape recorded 250,000 concurrent players on its servers. A strong number, especially considering that the MMORPG is 25 years old. For the players, it has long been more than pure nostalgia, and the developers are aware of this.
Here you can watch a trailer:
The assault on WoW
What are the developers planning? The developers of RuneScape sound megalomaniac in their endeavor. They want to have surpassed World of Warcraft as the biggest MMORPG franchise by 2031. Right now, they are likely in 2nd or 3rd place on the franchise list – it’s hard to say for sure due to the lack of released player numbers.
In five years, RuneScape is supposed to be bigger as a franchise than WoW, and it sounds from the mouth of CEO Bellamy this way: “There’s still a ways to go to that number. But we know: If we do it right, we can make progress. We know we can achieve wonders.” (Source: The Games Business on YouTube)
How do they plan to achieve this? The developers have a completely different strategy than the WoW-killers of the 2010s. They want to stay true to themselves and keep RuneScape as it is. The CEO explains this with a vivid example:
I’m not worried that strawberry ice cream could sell better than chocolate ice cream. We just want to sell ice cream.
In five years, we want to have at least three very large RuneScape games in development. If we achieve that, then we’ve done our job well.
Jagex CEO Bellamy on The Games Business on YouTube
The ice cream example is meant to explain that they don’t want to try to copy the competition, but rather stay true to themselves and their path, and this has already been achieved if all 3 games are still successful in 5 years.
Are you currently playing any of the RuneScape games? If so, feel free to let us know in the comments which one and why! How RuneScape is supposed to change this year, you can find out in this article: One of the most successful MMORPGs of all time modernizes its look: “This is everything I ever wanted”
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