RuneScape Dev Jagex Partnering With Hasbro on Transformers Game

UK-based MMO developer Jagex is partnering with toymaker Hasbro to create an online game based on the Transformers brand, due to launch in 2012, the two companies announced on Monday. Jagex is best known for its highly-successful free-to-play browser-based MMO RuneScape, a fantasy-themed game that originally launched in 2001. The company said it has over 40 online games with millions of players. Other titles in publisher-developer's portfolio include War of Legends, Void Hunters and Miner Disturbance. Under the new Transformers deal with Hasbro, Jagex will release the MMO in North America, Latin America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia next year. Jagex CEO Mark Gerhard said in a statement that "There is a huge appetite for an online Transformers game." He offered few details on the game, other than it will be "action-packed." Last year, Chinese online game maker NetDragon partnered with Hasbro on a Transformers MMO for Asia that was due to release sometime this year. Last month, Jagex said it received funding that it would apply to further growth of the company. Jagex currently has more than 400 employees spread across three offices -- two in Cambridge (including its headquarters) and one in London.