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Last week, Jagex Limited released their Annual Investment and Financial Report for 2020. The 40-page report details the ongoing strategy Jagex intended to employ, the successes of both RuneScape and Oldschool RuneScape, and several hardships the company went through which included the pandemic, and the sale of Jagex to Platinum Fortune in May of 2020, for 530 million dollars.
Jagex’s annual report for 2020 has just been released, and with it comes a look into the strategies, successes, and setbacks Jagex encountered throughout 2020. Jagex did see substantial growth, with RuneScape seeing an 18% increase in revenue, and Old School RuneScape marking a 6% increase, though 76% of total revenue generated was from subscription products. As part of the strategic report, Jagex details that the sale of Jagex to Platinum Fortune, part of the Macarthur Fortune Holding Group back in May had a material affect on business operations.
“[The Sale] as well as preparations for a further sale, placed considerable non-operational demands on the Jagex management team. Although we sought to minimize the impact of these activities, they did have a material effect on business operations. The transaction resulted in disruptions and delays when signing third party games and some deferral of non-essential investments into 2021.”
-Jagex Limited, Annual Report
Jagex was sold once again in 2021 to the Carlyle group. Jagex partners did sign its first publishing deal with Flying Wild Hog in 2020. Flying Wild Hog is a development studio that is working on a “new and promising title” as Jagex began working towards publishing more third party projects. Jagex has since published Games by Malcs indie title, Melvor Idle which released back in November of 2021 on Steam.
The 2020 report does note that some of the increased popularity was due to their release of RuneScape on Steam, but this report notes that the mobile release of RuneScape would be forthcoming in 2021. Still, Jagex did see an increase in subscriber growth, hitting an all time high, which will undoubtedly be shattered in the 2021 report once mobile players are taken into account.
“Despite disruption from the Covid-19 pandemic, 2020 was (an) extraordinary year for Jagex, with us reaching an all-time high in subscribers, achieving significant growth in financial performance, an increase in workforce strength and a step-change of greater investments in new products and technologies.”
-Jagex Limited, Annual Report
Jagex has continued to update the game throughout 2021, even though the team had a few moments that were touch and go due to a massive login/lockout issue that persisted for several weeks. The 2020 annual report does manage to paint a positive picture as Jagex headed into 2021, and now with 2022 just beginning, we wonder what will be in store for all those RuneScapers out there.
[report originally found via Reddit]
