Posted in: Games, Jagex, Runescape, Video Games | Tagged: Jagex, runescape, The Carlyle Group

RuneScape Publisher Jagex Has Been Acquired By The Carlyle Group

Published Mon, 25 Jan 2021 14:55:49 -0600

Some interesting news this morning at Jagex, publisher of the game RuneScape, revealed they have been acquired by The Carlyle Group. Absolutely no details were released as to what the company was sold for or any of the logistics behind the deal. So the fate of all of the company's employees and the game moving forward (on its 20th anniversary, no less) are unknown at this time. All we know for certain is that it's a complete buyout, making Carlyle the new parent company over everything. We have a few quotes from the announcement today as we now wait to see if they're going to be an awesome company that will leave things the way they are so they can continue to operate as they have, or if they're going to gut the company and reduce it to a skeleton crew as we've seen others do.

"I am so proud that Jagex is teaming up with Carlyle, a prestigious investment group that believes in the potential of Jagex, our vision for growth, and will support us in accelerating our multi-year growth strategy. We will continue to expand our game teams to create and deliver more great content for RuneScape and Old School RuneScape. 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," said Phil Mansell, CEO of Jagex.

"The global video games market is large and growing, and within this the global massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) sub-sector is particularly attractive. We have been impressed with Jagex's market position, strong track record of revenue and market share growth, as well as the experience and passion of the team," said Patrick McCarter, Managing Director at Carlyle.

"RuneScape is one of the most enduring RPG franchises and has a fantastic and committed player base. We look forward to drawing on the full resources of Carlyle to support Phil and his team to continue to grow the existing RuneScape franchise as well as launching new, exciting ones. We believe with further investment and innovation, Jagex can build on its position as one of the most exciting video game developers for both existing and new generations of MMORPG players," said Michael Wand, Managing Director at Carlyle.