Jagex reports high Runescape player count and profit growth for seventh year in a row

For what's now the seventh year in a row, developer Jagex has hit financial growth. In its financial highlights for 2021, the Runescape maker reported a record revenue of nearly £125 million, up 4 percent from 2020. 

That growth, said Jagex, was due to the overall Runescape franchise hitting the 300 million player milestone, an all-new membership high. CEO Phil Mansell said that the developers were able to build on its growth from 2020, which was more important than previous years, since the MMO turned 20 years old last year. 

Perhaps the biggest change that Jagex faced came when it was purchased by The Carlyle Group in 2021 to "evolve the core Runescape franchise." Last month, Jagex did its own first-ever acquisition and bought the US-based Pipeworks. 

Since being acquired by Carlyle, Mansell said that the global investment company has been "hugely supportive of our long-term plans to grow the Jagex group and of our vision to be a leader in community-driven games."

Another big milestone for Jagex? Bringing Runescape to iOS and Android, and offering cross-platform play. 

Mansell also briefly touched on expanding the developer's publishing arm, Jagex Partners. Forecast for its publisher of live-service games will see "significant continued growth," he said. 

While much of that growth will come to already existing community titles such as Flying Wild Hog's Space Punks, he indicated that Jagex Partners had formed partnerships with other third-party developers.