{"id":704127,"date":"2026-07-21T22:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T22:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/704127\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T22:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T22:23:09","slug":"runescape-boss-wants-to-overtake-world-of-warcraft-as-the-number-1-mmo-promises-big-things-in-october","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/704127\/","title":{"rendered":"RuneScape boss wants to overtake World of Warcraft as the number 1 MMO, promises big things in October"},"content":{"rendered":"

The CEO of RuneScape studio Jagex says his aim is to eventually make it the number one MMO, overtaking World of Warcraft.<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Game Business<\/a>, Jagex CEO Jon Bellamy was asked about the company\u2019s claim that RuneScape is the second biggest MMO game behind Blizzard<\/a>\u2018s title.<\/p>\n

Bellamy replied that his aim was to continue building RuneScape \u2013 which turned 25 years old this year \u2013 until it eventually overtakes World or Warcraft and becomes recognised as the top MMO.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe dream is that we\u2019re not the number two biggest MMO brand in the world, we\u2019re number one,\u201d he said. \u201cThere\u2019s a big old gap between us and number one, but if we get it right, we know we can make headway.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s lofty and ambitious, but if you\u2019re going to set lofty and ambitious goals, why not swing for the top? So, that\u2019s the number one goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of the first steps Jagex made towards this goal was scrapping its Treasure Hunter microtransaction last year. The perk let players boost their XP and gold and made a lot of money for Jagex, but was unpopular among players.<\/p>\n

Bellamy said the game\u2019s revenue \u201cis down quite a large chunk\u201d as a result of this decision, but stressed that it was part of the plan and said member numbers had stabilized instead of dropping for the first time in four years.<\/p>\n

\u201cLess FOMO, less of the rubbish\u201d\"RuneScape<\/a><\/p>\n

Bellamy also explained that changing monetisation isn\u2019t enough, and the studio now has to deliver something that will make players come back.<\/p>\n

\u201cSetting the table for growth is not the same as expecting growth to come as a result of setting the table,\u201d he said. \u201cYou need to put something on the table to bring people in. We\u2019ve set the table, we\u2019ve spent the last year not just removing that monetization layer, but overhauling so much of the clunkiness and the pain within the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe guy who runs our RuneScape studio has been here for 13 years. He\u2019s been a RuneScape player for 20. The person calling the shots on how to bring this thing back to life was a player in its golden age. He\u2019s done a great job on getting the game into a healthy position. So less daily, less FOMO, less of the rubbish.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bellamy teased that the next stage of this plan will come in October, when Jagex will be announcing something that\u2019s designed to make lapsed players return to RuneScape.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been told very clearly not to give anything away, but on October 3 at RuneFest, we\u2019ll be announcing our equivalent of putting a feast on the table, to really actively win people back, and that\u2019ll be happening much sooner than many people expect,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The CEO of RuneScape studio Jagex says his aim is to eventually make it the number one MMO,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704128,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-704127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gb","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704127","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=704127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}