Jagex
Encyclopedia
Jagex Games Studio, based in Cambridge
, is the UK
’s largest independent developer
and publisher
of online games
. Jagex is best known for RuneScape
, the world's largest free-to-play
MMORPG
.
In addition to RuneScape, Jagex has released 43 casual games
on its FunOrb
portal and published several independently-developed titles.
Jagex has over 450 employees who provide content development, employee management, and customer support
in house.
and Paul Gower began trading under the Jagex name in 1999, describing Jagex Software as a "small software company based in England who specialise in producing top-quality Java-games for webpages." That same year they began work on the MMORPG
RuneScape, which was released in January 2001. In December 2001, Andrew Gower
, Paul Gower, and Constant Tedder launched Jagex in its current incarnation, with Tedder as its CEO
. Jagex Ltd formally acquired the Jagex name from Andrew Gower in 2001.
RuneScape grew dramatically; one year after its release over a million free accounts had been registered. The game was originally supported by advertisements, however, the Dot-com bubble
meant that there were fewer advertisers willing or able to sign with Jagex. One of the first tasks of the new company was to create a paid version of the game with extra features, to support hosting costs and continued development. This was achieved on 27 February 2002 when the pay-to-play version of RuneScape was released. It gained 5,000 subscribers in the first week, making it one of the largest Java pay-to-play games in the world at the time.
, replaced Constant Tedder as CEO in order to "accelerate international growth." Iddison resigned as CEO in January 2009, and was replaced by Mark Gerhard, who had been Jagex CTO before his appointment.
Jagex received an investment from Insight Venture Partners
in October 2005. The company had been self-funded before this investment.
In December 2010 The Raine Group and Spectrum Equity Investors
invested in Jagex, while Insight Venture Partners increased their investment. Andrew Gower, Paul Gower and Constant Tedder left the board of directors at that time. Though Andrew Gower is currently listed as Jagex's principal architect, it is unclear how involved he, his brother, and Tedder still are in the management of Jagex.
. The company has stated that it has "ambitious plans to release multiple titles from third-party developers."
On 26 July 2010, Jagex bought the game Planetarion
from Renegade Games, who had themselves bought the rights in February 2009.
In August 2010, Jagex acquired the technology and assets of Undercroft, a mobile game developed by Prague
-based Rake in Grass.
On 10 May 2011, Jagex announced that it had formed a partnership with New York-based media company Herotainment to publish Herotopia, a superhero
-themed MMORPG targeted towards children. The game was published on 25 May 2011.
The Financial Times
reported in April 2011 that the possibility of a RuneScape movie being developed in partnership with Hasbro Studios was being explored.
, the United Kingdom's game developer trade body, on 15 April 2009. Richard Wilson, TIGA's CEO, described Jagex as "one of the most successful game developers in the world, not just the UK. Jagex has developed extraordinarily popular games and is at the leading edge in terms of online safety and security."
Jagex has also collaborated with iCould, a career development organisation project, and several members of staff have appeared in videos on their website.
Games Convention
, and the Virtual Worlds Forum.
list, and ranked 87th in 2008.
In 2008 the company took 3rd place in the Develop Conference Pub Quiz. It was also listed in the "Red Herring top 100 Europe" awards.
In 2009 Jagex was ranked as the 29th "Most Successful Game Studio in the World" by Develop magazine
. It also won the "Best Desktop Game Project" award at the Duke's Choice Awards
, the Golden Joystick award for "Best UK Developer", and was listed in the Deloitte Awards "Technology Fast 50". The company also gained it's first Best Company "One to watch" award, which it also achieved in 2010 and 2011.
In 2010 the company received the Golden Joystick award for "Best UK Developer" for a second year. It also won "Business of the Year" in the Cambridge News Business Excellence Awards, the "Private Company of the Year" award at the East of England Business Awards, and was listed in the Deloitte Awards "Technology Fast 50" for a second year. The company was listed in the Red Herring: Global 100 Winners for the first time this year.
In 2011 Jagex received a Queen's Award for Enterprise
in the Innovation category. It also sponsored and won the 2011 Develop Quiz.
In 2008 they donated artwork and prizes to the MMOCalendar, which raises funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
.
of Jagex, "Java Gaming Experts," was changed to "Just About the Game Experience" prior to the release of War of Legends. Since Jagex no longer released games programmed exclusively in Java
, the original backronym was rendered defunct.
MMORPG
released in January 2001 by Andrew
and Paul Gower. It is a graphical browser game
implemented on the client-side
in Java
, and incorporates 3D rendering
. The game has approximately 10 million active accounts per month, over 156 million registered accounts, and is recognised by the Guinness World Records
as the world's most popular free-to-play
MMORPG.
RuneScape takes place in the world of Gielinor, a medieval fantasy realm divided into different kingdoms, regions, and cities. Each region offers different types of monsters, resources, and quests to challenge players. The game's fictional universe
has also been explored through a tie-in
video game on its maker's other website, FunOrb
, Armies of Gielinor, and the novels Betrayal at Falador and Return to Canifis.
Players are represented in the game with customisable avatars
. RuneScape does not follow a linear storyline; rather, players set their own goals and objectives. Players can choose to fight non-player character
(NPC) monsters, complete quests
, or increase their experience
in the available skills. Players interact with each other through trading, chatting
, or by participating in mini-games and activities, some of which are competitive or combative in nature, while others require cooperative or collaborative play.
site created by Jagex. Launched on 27 February 2008, it was the company's first major release after RuneScape. All of the games are programmed in Java.
The site is mainly targeted towards the "hard casual," "deep casual" or "time-pressured" gamer market.
which was released on 19 January 2010. It was Jagex's first MMORTS, the company's first externally-developed game, the first game published by Jagex not to be written in Java, and the company's first microtransactional game.
and iPod touch
on 3 December 2009, followed by StarCannon on 15 April 2010, Miner Disturbance on 8 June 2010, and Undercroft on 23 September 2010.
8Realms
, the company's first HTML based game, is designed to work on the iPad
.
under development by Jagex. Originally known as MechScape, the project was scrapped and renamed after it was decided that the completed project did not meet the standards of the original design brief
. The project was overhauled and formally announced as Stellar Dawn on 14 July 2010 when Jagex released the official Stellar Dawn website. On 10 August 2010 the first official Stellar Dawn teaser was released. The game is slated for a 2011 launch.
.
The 8Realms closed beta was released on 5 May 2011. Players were given advanced access to the closed beta by invitation and through the game's Facebook
page.
to create the "Transfomers Universe" MMO based on the Transformers
intellectual property
due to launch in North America, Latin America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia in 2012.
. He replied, "The console manufacturers are the problem. Jagex is a Microsoft
, Sony
and Nintendo
authorised developer, the reason why we don't have anything on the market is because all three are scared of the free-to-play model and that they are very protective over opening up their platforms. We've said to all three guys that we want to do it and we can do it, it's already working, but we need to have a global community. We're not going to segment off the 360
community from the PS3 or Wii
etc. They've all said that they are fine to interact with a PC, but not another competing console and for us that's just not going to work. Why would we want to do that? RuneScape is free, what better value than to give users a completely free game and then the inevitable issue of platform costs come up, "How about five Euros
per month?" No you're shooting yourself in the foot because users can get it on a PC for free, do you want to move people away from your platform? You can kind of see people going through the thought process and they understand how ridiculous it is. I suspect someone high up just said no. Until free MMOs appear on consoles, the respective platforms just aren't interesting to us. We are building a global community which is platform and language agnostic, there's no way we are breaking those rules for anyone. If I'm looking into my crystal ball I would say five years from now that (MMO support on consoles) will change as a necessity, as their market share
continues to decline. Someone, someday will smell the coffee and hopefully we'll be the catalyst for that. We've done everything necessary to be there when they change their mind and we'll be the first to take advantage by offering consoles as an additional choice for our community. However having players pay for just being able to use their console for the service is just unimaginable, it's wrong."
Since then there has been little word about console development apart from a December 2010 vacancy which included "knowledge of other platforms including, but not limited to, Mac OS, Linux, Wii, PS3 and Xbox" as "desirable requirements."
In its 2008 profile of RuneScapes IP
, Develop
concluded that: "In addition to being one of the most profitable, Jagex is also the UK’s largest independent developer by staff level, and one of the biggest employers. Its commercial model should make it a poster boy for the disintermediation
of publishers and the ‘direct to consumer’ distribution channel in which so many developers place their hopes."
In the past Jagex had been accused of marketing RuneScape towards young children, despite having a 13+ age requirement. The age requirement has since been removed, allowing players under 13 in the game but only allowing them to communicate through a chat system known as Quick Chat; a database of preset sentences. Players may request removal from the Quick Chat system by providing proof of parental consent
.
Gerhard has stated that he wishes to change the perception of RuneScape as a children's game, stating that "the real average age is 16. And there's this perception that there's 8 year old boys playing the game and it's mad."
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
, is the UK
Video gaming in the United Kingdom
The United Kingdom has the largest video games market in Europe, with sales of $6 billion in 2008. In 2009, the British video game industry outsold the film industry for the first time. Many major video game franchises are developed in the country, such as Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider,...
’s largest independent developer
Independent video game development
Independent video game development is the process of creating video games without the financial support of a video game publisher. While large firms can create independent games, they are usually designed by an individual or a small team of as many as ten people, depending on the complexity of the...
and publisher
Video game publisher
A video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
of online games
Online game
An online game is a game played over some form of computer network. This almost always means the Internet or equivalent technology, but games have always used whatever technology was current: modems before the Internet, and hard wired terminals before modems...
. Jagex is best known for RuneScape
RuneScape
RuneScape is a fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game released in January 2001 by Andrew and Paul Gower, and developed and published by Jagex Games Studio. It is a graphical browser game implemented on the client-side in Java, and incorporates 3D rendering...
, the world's largest free-to-play
Free-to-play
Free-to-play refers to any video game that has the option of allowing its players to play without paying. The model was first popularly used in early massively multiplayer online games targeted towards casual gamers, before finding wider adoption among games released by major video game...
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
.
In addition to RuneScape, Jagex has released 43 casual games
Casual game
A casual game is a video game targeted at or used by a mass audience of casual gamers. Casual games can have any type of gameplay, and fit in any genre. They are typically distinguished by their simple rules and lack of commitment required in contrast to more complex hardcore games...
on its FunOrb
FunOrb
FunOrb is a casual gaming site created by Jagex Games Studio. Launched on 27 February 2008, it was the company's first major release after their successful MMORPG, RuneScape...
portal and published several independently-developed titles.
Jagex has over 450 employees who provide content development, employee management, and customer support
Customer support
Customer support is a range of customer services to assist customers in making cost effective and correct use of a product. It includes assistance in planning, installation, training, trouble shooting, maintenance, upgrading, and disposal of a product....
in house.
Early years
After initially creating the Jagex name and logo for their projects Andrew GowerAndrew Gower
Andrew Christopher Gower is a British video game developer and co-founder of Cambridge-based Jagex Games Studio, the company he founded with Paul Gower and Constant Tedder. He wrote the MMORPG RuneScape with the assistance of his brother, Paul Gower. In December 2010 he left the Jagex board of...
and Paul Gower began trading under the Jagex name in 1999, describing Jagex Software as a "small software company based in England who specialise in producing top-quality Java-games for webpages." That same year they began work on the MMORPG
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
RuneScape, which was released in January 2001. In December 2001, Andrew Gower
Andrew Gower
Andrew Christopher Gower is a British video game developer and co-founder of Cambridge-based Jagex Games Studio, the company he founded with Paul Gower and Constant Tedder. He wrote the MMORPG RuneScape with the assistance of his brother, Paul Gower. In December 2010 he left the Jagex board of...
, Paul Gower, and Constant Tedder launched Jagex in its current incarnation, with Tedder as its CEO
Chief executive officer
A chief executive officer , managing director , Executive Director for non-profit organizations, or chief executive is the highest-ranking corporate officer or administrator in charge of total management of an organization...
. Jagex Ltd formally acquired the Jagex name from Andrew Gower in 2001.
RuneScape grew dramatically; one year after its release over a million free accounts had been registered. The game was originally supported by advertisements, however, the Dot-com bubble
Dot-com bubble
The dot-com bubble was a speculative bubble covering roughly 1995–2000 during which stock markets in industrialized nations saw their equity value rise rapidly from growth in the more...
meant that there were fewer advertisers willing or able to sign with Jagex. One of the first tasks of the new company was to create a paid version of the game with extra features, to support hosting costs and continued development. This was achieved on 27 February 2002 when the pay-to-play version of RuneScape was released. It gained 5,000 subscribers in the first week, making it one of the largest Java pay-to-play games in the world at the time.
Employees
As RuneScape gained users, Jagex grew its employee base. By 11 December 2003, RuneScape had 65,000 paying members, and Jagex had 29 employees. On 4 May 2007, RuneScape had over 6,000,000 active free accounts and over 1,000,000 active pay-to-play subscribers. In January 2011, Jagex had over 450 employees.Investors and management
On 23 October 2007, Geoff Iddison, former European CEO of PayPalPayPal
PayPal is an American-based global e-commerce business allowing payments and money transfers to be made through the Internet. Online money transfers serve as electronic alternatives to paying with traditional paper methods, such as checks and money orders....
, replaced Constant Tedder as CEO in order to "accelerate international growth." Iddison resigned as CEO in January 2009, and was replaced by Mark Gerhard, who had been Jagex CTO before his appointment.
Jagex received an investment from Insight Venture Partners
Insight Venture Partners
Insight Venture Partners is a New York-based private equity and venture capital firm founded in 1995 by Jeff Horing and Jerry Murdock. The firm focuses exclusively on software and Internet-enabled businesses and currently has a capital base of approximately $5 billion.The firm’s Executive Advisory...
in October 2005. The company had been self-funded before this investment.
In December 2010 The Raine Group and Spectrum Equity Investors
Spectrum Equity Investors
Spectrum Equity Investors is a Boston-based private equity and venture capital firm founded in 1994. The firm focuses on business services, entertainment, communications, information services, media, and related growth sectors. The firm currently has a capital base of approximately $4.7 billion...
invested in Jagex, while Insight Venture Partners increased their investment. Andrew Gower, Paul Gower and Constant Tedder left the board of directors at that time. Though Andrew Gower is currently listed as Jagex's principal architect, it is unclear how involved he, his brother, and Tedder still are in the management of Jagex.
Publishing and acquisitions
In 2010 the Jagex Publishing division was launched with the release of War of LegendsWar of Legends
War of Legends is a massively multiplayer online strategy game set in "a world of ancient Chinese mythology" and was published by Jagex Games Studio on January 19, 2010...
. The company has stated that it has "ambitious plans to release multiple titles from third-party developers."
On 26 July 2010, Jagex bought the game Planetarion
Planetarion
Planetarion is a browser-based massively multiplayer online game. Created by Fifth Season AS in early 2000, then bought by Jolt in 2003, and then bought by Renegade Games in 2009, and currently owned by Jagex Games Studio, the game has placed players in control over a planet, with the ability to...
from Renegade Games, who had themselves bought the rights in February 2009.
In August 2010, Jagex acquired the technology and assets of Undercroft, a mobile game developed by Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
-based Rake in Grass.
On 10 May 2011, Jagex announced that it had formed a partnership with New York-based media company Herotainment to publish Herotopia, a superhero
Superhero
A superhero is a type of stock character, possessing "extraordinary or superhuman powers", dedicated to protecting the public. Since the debut of the prototypical superhero Superman in 1938, stories of superheroes — ranging from brief episodic adventures to continuing years-long sagas —...
-themed MMORPG targeted towards children. The game was published on 25 May 2011.
Other mediums
On 25 July 2008, Jagex released its first novel - Betrayal at Falador, written by T.S. Church. A sequel, Return to Canifis, was released on 24 March 2011.The Financial Times
Financial Times
The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 24 cities around the world. Its primary rival is the Wall Street Journal, published in New York City....
reported in April 2011 that the possibility of a RuneScape movie being developed in partnership with Hasbro Studios was being explored.
Membership and industry organisations
Jagex became a member of TIGAThe Independent Games Developers Association
TIGA is the national trade association representing the business and commercial interests of video and computer game developers in the UK and Europe...
, the United Kingdom's game developer trade body, on 15 April 2009. Richard Wilson, TIGA's CEO, described Jagex as "one of the most successful game developers in the world, not just the UK. Jagex has developed extraordinarily popular games and is at the leading edge in terms of online safety and security."
Jagex has also collaborated with iCould, a career development organisation project, and several members of staff have appeared in videos on their website.
Exhibitions and conferences
In 2008 Jagex began attending a number of gaming conventions and exhibitions, both to show off its products and to give keynote speeches. Events it was present at included E3, the LeipzigLeipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
Games Convention
Games Convention
The Games Convention, sometimes called the Leipzig Games Convention and abbreviated as GC, was an annual video game event held in Leipzig, Germany, first held in 2002. Besides video games, the event also covers Infotainment, Hardware, and Edutainment...
, and the Virtual Worlds Forum.
Awards and accomplishments
Jagex has received recognition and awards in a number of areas. In 2007 it was ranked 59th in the Sunday Times '100 Best Companies to Work For'The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For
Since 2001, the Sunday Times newspaper has published annual lists of the best companies to work for in the UK. The award is highly valued by its winners.The list ranks Britain's best companies to work for based a number of criteria...
list, and ranked 87th in 2008.
In 2008 the company took 3rd place in the Develop Conference Pub Quiz. It was also listed in the "Red Herring top 100 Europe" awards.
In 2009 Jagex was ranked as the 29th "Most Successful Game Studio in the World" by Develop magazine
Develop (magazine)
Develop is a monthly trade magazine for the video games industry. Based in Hertford, Hertfordshire, the magazine allows participation by anyone working in the video game industry. Develop is the only European-based website and print magazine aimed exclusively at the development community...
. It also won the "Best Desktop Game Project" award at the Duke's Choice Awards
JavaOne
JavaOne is an annual conference inaugurated in 1996 by Sun Microsystems to discuss Java technologies, primarily among Java developers. JavaOne is held in San Francisco, California typically running from Monday to Thursday. Technical sessions on a variety of topics are held during the day. In the...
, the Golden Joystick award for "Best UK Developer", and was listed in the Deloitte Awards "Technology Fast 50". The company also gained it's first Best Company "One to watch" award, which it also achieved in 2010 and 2011.
In 2010 the company received the Golden Joystick award for "Best UK Developer" for a second year. It also won "Business of the Year" in the Cambridge News Business Excellence Awards, the "Private Company of the Year" award at the East of England Business Awards, and was listed in the Deloitte Awards "Technology Fast 50" for a second year. The company was listed in the Red Herring: Global 100 Winners for the first time this year.
In 2011 Jagex received a Queen's Award for Enterprise
Queen's Awards for Enterprise
The Queen's Awards for Enterprise is an awards programme for British businesses and other organizations who excel at international trade, innovation or sustainable development. They are the highest official UK awards for British businesses...
in the Innovation category. It also sponsored and won the 2011 Develop Quiz.
Charity fund raising
Since 2004 Jagex has made donations to a number of national and international charities, as well as running charity auctions for signed merchandise.In 2008 they donated artwork and prizes to the MMOCalendar, which raises funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, founded in 1962, is a leading pediatric treatment and research facility focused on children's catastrophic diseases. It is located in Memphis, Tennessee. It is a nonprofit medical corporation chartered as a 501 tax-exempt organization under IRS regulations.In...
.
Backronym
The original backronymBackronym
A backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
of Jagex, "Java Gaming Experts," was changed to "Just About the Game Experience" prior to the release of War of Legends. Since Jagex no longer released games programmed exclusively in Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
, the original backronym was rendered defunct.
RuneScape
RuneScape is a fantasyFantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
MMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
released in January 2001 by Andrew
Andrew Gower
Andrew Christopher Gower is a British video game developer and co-founder of Cambridge-based Jagex Games Studio, the company he founded with Paul Gower and Constant Tedder. He wrote the MMORPG RuneScape with the assistance of his brother, Paul Gower. In December 2010 he left the Jagex board of...
and Paul Gower. It is a graphical browser game
Browser game
A browser game is a computer game that is played over the Internet using a web browser. Browser games can be created and run using standard web technologies or browser plug-ins. Browser games include all video game genres and can be single-player or multiplayer...
implemented on the client-side
Client (computing)
A client is an application or system that accesses a service made available by a server. The server is often on another computer system, in which case the client accesses the service by way of a network....
in Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
, and incorporates 3D rendering
3D rendering
3D rendering is the 3D computer graphics process of automatically converting 3D wire frame models into 2D images with 3D photorealistic effects on a computer.-Rendering methods:...
. The game has approximately 10 million active accounts per month, over 156 million registered accounts, and is recognised by the Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
as the world's most popular free-to-play
Free-to-play
Free-to-play refers to any video game that has the option of allowing its players to play without paying. The model was first popularly used in early massively multiplayer online games targeted towards casual gamers, before finding wider adoption among games released by major video game...
MMORPG.
RuneScape takes place in the world of Gielinor, a medieval fantasy realm divided into different kingdoms, regions, and cities. Each region offers different types of monsters, resources, and quests to challenge players. The game's fictional universe
Fictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
has also been explored through a tie-in
Tie-in
A tie-in is an authorized product based on a media property a company is releasing, such as a movie or video/DVD, computer game, video game, television program/television series, board game, web site, role-playing game or literary property...
video game on its maker's other website, FunOrb
FunOrb
FunOrb is a casual gaming site created by Jagex Games Studio. Launched on 27 February 2008, it was the company's first major release after their successful MMORPG, RuneScape...
, Armies of Gielinor, and the novels Betrayal at Falador and Return to Canifis.
Players are represented in the game with customisable avatars
Avatar (computing)
In computing, an avatar is the graphical representation of the user or the user's alter ego or character. It may take either a three-dimensional form, as in games or virtual worlds, or a two-dimensional form as an icon in Internet forums and other online communities. It can also refer to a text...
. RuneScape does not follow a linear storyline; rather, players set their own goals and objectives. Players can choose to fight non-player character
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
(NPC) monsters, complete quests
Quest (gaming)
A quest in role-playing video games — including massively multiplayer online role-playing games and their predecessors, MUDs — is a task that a player-controlled character or group of characters may complete in order to gain a reward...
, or increase their experience
Experience point
An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...
in the available skills. Players interact with each other through trading, chatting
Conversation
Conversation is a form of interactive, spontaneous communication between two or more people who are following rules of etiquette.Conversation analysis is a branch of sociology which studies the structure and organization of human interaction, with a more specific focus on conversational...
, or by participating in mini-games and activities, some of which are competitive or combative in nature, while others require cooperative or collaborative play.
FunOrb
FunOrb is a casual gamingCasual game
A casual game is a video game targeted at or used by a mass audience of casual gamers. Casual games can have any type of gameplay, and fit in any genre. They are typically distinguished by their simple rules and lack of commitment required in contrast to more complex hardcore games...
site created by Jagex. Launched on 27 February 2008, it was the company's first major release after RuneScape. All of the games are programmed in Java.
The site is mainly targeted towards the "hard casual," "deep casual" or "time-pressured" gamer market.
War of Legends
War of Legends is an MMORTS set in a world of ancient Chinese mythologyChinese mythology
Chinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...
which was released on 19 January 2010. It was Jagex's first MMORTS, the company's first externally-developed game, the first game published by Jagex not to be written in Java, and the company's first microtransactional game.
Herotopia
On 10 May 2011 Jagex announced that it was working with the New York based children's media company Herotainment to publish a new browser-based game called Herotopia. According to Jagex the game will be a "virtual world which provides kids with a fun and enjoyable experience they can make their own."Mobile
Jagex released its first mobile game, Bouncedown, for the iPhoneIPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
and iPod touch
IPod touch
The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
on 3 December 2009, followed by StarCannon on 15 April 2010, Miner Disturbance on 8 June 2010, and Undercroft on 23 September 2010.
8Realms
8Realms
8Realms is an HTML-based empire-building massively multiplayer online strategy game developed by Jagex Games Studio. It is the company's first internally-developed MMORTS, and second published MMORTS, after War of Legends.-History:...
, the company's first HTML based game, is designed to work on the iPad
IPad
The iPad is a line of tablet computers designed, developed and marketed by Apple Inc., primarily as a platform for audio-visual media including books, periodicals, movies, music, games, and web content. The iPad was introduced on January 27, 2010 by Apple's then-CEO Steve Jobs. Its size and...
.
Stellar Dawn
Stellar Dawn is an upcoming browser-based sci-fi themed MMORPGMMORPG
Massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of role-playing video games in which a very large number of players interact with one another within a virtual game world....
under development by Jagex. Originally known as MechScape, the project was scrapped and renamed after it was decided that the completed project did not meet the standards of the original design brief
Design brief
A design brief is a comprehensive written document for a design project developed in concert by a person representing the business need for design and the designer. The document is focused on the desired results of design – not aesthetics....
. The project was overhauled and formally announced as Stellar Dawn on 14 July 2010 when Jagex released the official Stellar Dawn website. On 10 August 2010 the first official Stellar Dawn teaser was released. The game is slated for a 2011 launch.
8Realms
8Realms is an HTML-based empire-building massively multiplayer online strategy game developed by Jagex. It is the company's first internally-developed MMORTS, and second published MMORTS, after War of LegendsWar of Legends
War of Legends is a massively multiplayer online strategy game set in "a world of ancient Chinese mythology" and was published by Jagex Games Studio on January 19, 2010...
.
The 8Realms closed beta was released on 5 May 2011. Players were given advanced access to the closed beta by invitation and through the game's Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page.
Transformers Universe
On 14 March 2011 Jagex announced a partnership with HasbroHasbro
Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...
to create the "Transfomers Universe" MMO based on the Transformers
Transformers
A transformer is a device that transfers electrical energy from one circuit to another by magnetic coupling.Transformer may also refer to:* ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, an Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet computer manufacturer by Asus...
intellectual property
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
due to launch in North America, Latin America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia in 2012.
Consoles
In a March 2010 interview, Mark Gerhard was asked why Jagex have not released games to consolesVideo game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
. He replied, "The console manufacturers are the problem. Jagex is a Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
, Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
and Nintendo
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
authorised developer, the reason why we don't have anything on the market is because all three are scared of the free-to-play model and that they are very protective over opening up their platforms. We've said to all three guys that we want to do it and we can do it, it's already working, but we need to have a global community. We're not going to segment off the 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
community from the PS3 or Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
etc. They've all said that they are fine to interact with a PC, but not another competing console and for us that's just not going to work. Why would we want to do that? RuneScape is free, what better value than to give users a completely free game and then the inevitable issue of platform costs come up, "How about five Euros
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
per month?" No you're shooting yourself in the foot because users can get it on a PC for free, do you want to move people away from your platform? You can kind of see people going through the thought process and they understand how ridiculous it is. I suspect someone high up just said no. Until free MMOs appear on consoles, the respective platforms just aren't interesting to us. We are building a global community which is platform and language agnostic, there's no way we are breaking those rules for anyone. If I'm looking into my crystal ball I would say five years from now that (MMO support on consoles) will change as a necessity, as their market share
Market share
Market share is the percentage of a market accounted for by a specific entity. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 67 percent responded that they found the "dollar market share" metric very useful, while 61% found "unit market share" very useful.Marketers need to be able to...
continues to decline. Someone, someday will smell the coffee and hopefully we'll be the catalyst for that. We've done everything necessary to be there when they change their mind and we'll be the first to take advantage by offering consoles as an additional choice for our community. However having players pay for just being able to use their console for the service is just unimaginable, it's wrong."
Since then there has been little word about console development apart from a December 2010 vacancy which included "knowledge of other platforms including, but not limited to, Mac OS, Linux, Wii, PS3 and Xbox" as "desirable requirements."
Reception
Overall Jagex is a well-received company, ranking 59th in 2007 and 87th in 2008 on the Sunday Times' 100 Best Companies to Work For list.In its 2008 profile of RuneScapes IP
Intellectual property
Intellectual property is a term referring to a number of distinct types of creations of the mind for which a set of exclusive rights are recognized—and the corresponding fields of law...
, Develop
Develop (magazine)
Develop is a monthly trade magazine for the video games industry. Based in Hertford, Hertfordshire, the magazine allows participation by anyone working in the video game industry. Develop is the only European-based website and print magazine aimed exclusively at the development community...
concluded that: "In addition to being one of the most profitable, Jagex is also the UK’s largest independent developer by staff level, and one of the biggest employers. Its commercial model should make it a poster boy for the disintermediation
Disintermediation
In economics, disintermediation is the removal of intermediaries in a supply chain: "cutting out the middleman". Instead of going through traditional distribution channels, which had some type of intermediate , companies may now deal with every customer directly, for example via the Internet...
of publishers and the ‘direct to consumer’ distribution channel in which so many developers place their hopes."
In the past Jagex had been accused of marketing RuneScape towards young children, despite having a 13+ age requirement. The age requirement has since been removed, allowing players under 13 in the game but only allowing them to communicate through a chat system known as Quick Chat; a database of preset sentences. Players may request removal from the Quick Chat system by providing proof of parental consent
Parental consent
Parental consent laws in some countries require that one or more parents consent to or be notified before their minor child can legally engage in certain activities....
.
Gerhard has stated that he wishes to change the perception of RuneScape as a children's game, stating that "the real average age is 16. And there's this perception that there's 8 year old boys playing the game and it's mad."