Jagex

Jagex Limited
Subsidiary
Industry Video game industry
Founded 28 April 2000 (2000-04-28)
Founders
Headquarters St John's Innovation Centre, Cambridge, England
Area served
 Worldwide
Key people
 Phil Mansell (CEO & COO)[1]
Products
Number of employees
 Decrease 323[2] (2016)
Parent
  • Insight Venture Partners (2012–2016)
  • Hongtou (2016)
  • Zhongji Holding (2016–present)
Website jagex.com

Jagex Limited is a British video game developer and publisher based at the St John's Innovation Centre in Cambridge, England. It is best known for RuneScape, the world's largest free-to-play massively multiplayer online role-playing game. The company's name comes from its original slogan, "Java Gaming Experts". In addition to RuneScape, Jagex has released multiple casual games on its FunOrb portal, as well as other titles. By 2015, the studio held over 480 employees. In June 2016, Jagex was acquired by Chinese company Hongtou, which in turn was acquired by another Chinese company, Zhongji Holding, in September 2016.[3]

History

An early Jagex logo

After initially creating the Jagex name and logo for their projects, brothers and computer programmers Andrew Gower 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 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.

Until the release of War of Legends in 2010, the company used the slogan "Java Gaming Experts" as it had only produced games written in Java up to that point. Following the launch of the Flash-based War of Legends, the company name was said to stand for "Just About the Game Experience".[4]

Company structure

As RuneScape gained users, Jagex grew its employee base. By 11 December 2003, RuneScape had 65,000 paying members, and Jagex had 29 employees.[5] On 4 May 2007, RuneScape had over 6,000,000 active free accounts and over 1,000,000 active pay-to-play subscribers. In July 2012, Jagex had over 500 employees.[6]

On 23 October 2007, Geoff Iddison, former European CEO of PayPal, 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 became a member of TIGA, 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 received an investment from Insight Venture Partners in October 2005, before which the company had been self-funded. In December 2010 The Raine Group and Spectrum Equity Investors invested in Jagex, while Insight increased their investment. Andrew Gower, Paul Gower and Constant Tedder left the board of directors at that time.[7] In January 2012, Insight increased its stake in Jagex from 35% to 55%, giving it a controlling interest in the company.[8] However, in an interview, Gerhard stated that Insight took their 55% stake 13 months prior in December 2010.[9] On 11 September 2014, Mark Gerhard announced his resignation from Jagex by 2015.[10] On 2 April 2015, Rod Cousens was appointed CEO of Jagex following his departure from Codemasters.[11] In July 2016 it was announced that Jagex was purchased by Chinese Investors, a new board of directors have also been appointed.

Publishing and acquisitions

In 2010 the Jagex Publishing division was launched with the release of War of Legends. The company has stated that it has "ambitious plans to release multiple titles from third-party developers."[4]

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.[12] The game was published on 25 May 2011.[13]

On 1 November 2012 it was announced that Jagex would publish the sandbox game Ace of Spades.

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' list, and ranked 87th in 2008.

In 2008 the company took 3rd place in the Develop Conference Pub Quiz.[14] It was also listed in the "Red Herring top 100 Europe" awards.[15]

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 its 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.[16]

In November 2012 Jagex won the "best major employer" award at the National Online Recruitment Awards after being chosen from over 164,000 nominations.

Charity fundraising

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.

In 2011, Jagex donated a total of £150,076 to a number of local and US-based charities.

In 2013, Jagex introduced the "Well of Goodwill" to RuneScape, which allowed players to gift in-game items or wealth to charity. The Well of Goodwill also featured a hi-scores page for the players who donated. For every 10 million gold pieces gifted by the community, Jagex donated $2 to a number of charitable causes. On the weekend of 21 to 24 February 2014, Jagex reopened the well of goodwill to donations. They also hosted livestreams for the then-active double experience weekend and released a limited-offer virtual purchase to raise money for SpecialEffect, a charity geared towards making games accessible to children with disabilities.

In July 2014, Jagex helped raise awareness about the illegal poaching of black and white rhinos by adding rhinoceros pets and trivia questions to RuneScape. This campaign was partnershipped with United for Wildlife.

In November 2014, Jagex reopened the Well of Goodwill to support 3 new charities: AbleGamers, DonateGames, and YoungMinds.

Release history

Developed

RuneScape

A RuneScape screenshot

RuneScape is a fantasy MMORPG released in January 2001 by Andrew and Paul Gower.[5] It is a graphical browser game implemented on the client-side in Java, and incorporates 3D rendering. The game has over 200 million registered accounts,[17] 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, Return to Canifis and Legacy of Blood.

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.[18] 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.

Old School RuneScape

Old School RuneScape is a separate incarnation of RuneScape released on 22 February 2013, based on a copy of the game from August 2007. It was opened to paying subscribers after a poll to determine the level of support for releasing this game passed 50,000 votes, followed by a free-to-play version on 19 February 2015. Old School RuneScape receives regular content updates, which must be voted on by its players before they can be added to the game. On 17 July 2017, Jagex announced the development of a mobile version of Old School Runescape.[19]

DarkScape

On 16 September 2015 Jagex released DarkScape, a separate version of RuneScape which featured open-world player versus player combat. DarkScape was originally released with most of RuneScape's content, but received separate content updates. DarkScape was completely free to play, with some additional benefits reserved for paying subscribers. On 29 February 2016 it was announced that DarkScape would close on 28 March due to lack of interest.

Block N Load

On 11 December 2014, Block N Load, a sandbox building tactical first-person shooter (FPS) game went into closed beta. On 5 March 2015, Jagex announced that Block N Load would be released for PC on 30 April 2015.[20]

FunOrb

FunOrb is a casual gaming 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.[21]

8Realms

8Realms was an HTML-based empire-building massively multiplayer online strategy game developed by Jagex.[22] It was the company's first internally developed MMORTS, and second published MMORTS after War of Legends.

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. On 28 May 2012 Jagex announced they were closing the game, stating that "it has become clear that the game doesn’t meet our high expectations for success."[23]

Carnage Racing

On 11 October 2012 Jagex announced it was developing a racing game on Facebook called Carnage Racing. The game runs on the Unity game engine and was slated for a November 2012 release.[24]

Chronicle: RuneScape Legends

Jagex announced Chronicle: RuneScape Legends at RuneFest 2014 for launch in the coming year. It allows players to build their own adventure with cards using characters from RuneScape.[25]

On 25 November 2015 Chronicle entered closed beta, and it was released on Steam on 26 May 2016.

Published

War of Legends

War of Legends was an MMORTS set in a world of ancient Chinese mythology, which was released on 19 January 2010. It was Jagex's first MMORTS, the company's first externally developed game,[26] the first game published by Jagex not to be written in Java, and the company's first microtransactional game.[27] The game was shut down on 22 December 2014, and on 29 January 2015 Jagex announced that the game would not come back online due to unresolved security issues.

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,[28] which was released on 25 May.[29] According to Jagex the game will be a "virtual world which provides kids with a fun and enjoyable experience they can make their own."[28]

Ace of Spades

On 1 November 2012 it was announced that Jagex would publish the sandbox game Ace of Spades. The game was released on Steam on 12 December 2012.[30]

RuneScape: Idle Adventures

RuneScape: Idle Adventures is an idle game set in the RuneScape universe. It is being developed by Hyper Hippo Productions. A closed beta was opened on Steam on 23 April 2016, then was subsequently shutdown on 15 May 2017[31] due to lack of users.

Mobile

Jagex released its first mobile game, Bouncedown, for the iPhone 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, was designed to work on the iPad.

Games in development

Stellar Dawn

Stellar Dawn promotional concept art

Stellar Dawn was an upcoming browser-based sci-fi themed MMORPG under development by Jagex. Originally known as MechScape,[32] the project was scrapped and renamed after it was decided that the completed project did not meet the standards of the original design brief.[33] 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 was slated for a 2011 launch, but in March 2012 Jagex announced that development had been paused in favour of Transformers Universe and RuneScape.[34]

Cancelled games

Transformers Universe

On 14 March 2011 Jagex announced a partnership with Hasbro to create a Transfomers Universe MMO based on the Transformers intellectual property that was due to launch in North America, Latin America, Europe, New Zealand and Australia in 2013.[35] The game entered open beta on 4 July 2014,[36] but it was announced on 16 December 2014 that the game would be cancelled and the beta shut down on 31 January 2015.[37]

References

  1. ↑ Dring, Christian (27 January 2017). "Jagex names Phil Mansell as acting CEO following Rod Cousens departure". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  2. ↑ "Jagex 2016 Financial Statement". Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  3. ↑ Brightman, James (28 September 2016). "Jagex now at the core of publicly-listed Chinese company". GamesIndustry.biz. Gamer Network. Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  4. 1 2 "WAR OF LEGENDS PROVES VICTORIOUS IN BATTLE". Develop. 18 March 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  5. 1 2 Dodson, Sean (11 December 2003). "Rune to move". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  6. ↑ "USA Today :: Five things you didn't know about RuneScape". 29 July 2012. Retrieved 27 July 2012.
  7. ↑ Griliopoulos, Dan (27 June 2012). "The Longest Game: The Making of RuneScape". PCGamesN. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  8. ↑ Olivetti, Justin (9 January 2012). "God save the green: Deal makes Jagex a US company". Engadget. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  9. ↑ Weber, Rachel (12 January 2012). "Casting the Runes". gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved 5 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "Gerhard leaving Jagex". Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  11. ↑ "Exclusive: Rod Cousens leaves Codemasters to become new Jagex CEO". Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  12. ↑ "JAGEX ANNOUNCES STRATEGIC WORLDWIDE PARTNERSHIP WITHHEROTAINMENT FOR AWARD-WINNING HEROTOPIA". Gamasutra. 10 May 2011. Retrieved 15 May 2011.
  13. ↑ "Jagex Announces the Launch of Herotopia for Super Kids Around the World". PRWeb. 25 May 2011. Retrieved 25 May 2011.
  14. ↑ "Codeworks GameHorizon triumphs at Develop Pub Quiz | Game Development | News by Develop". 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  15. ↑ "Top tech startups in Europe?". Tech Crunch. 2008. Retrieved 27 March 2008.
  16. ↑ "Jagex victorious at Develop Quiz". Develop. 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  17. ↑ Guthrie, MJ (19 July 2012). "RuneScape reaches 200 million users mark". Massively. Retrieved 20 July 2012.
  18. ↑ Wingfield, Nick (5 October 2006). "The Knights of Networking". Wall Street Journal. Dow Jones & Company. Retrieved 5 October 2006.
  19. ↑ "Old School on Mobile". Runescape. Jagex. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
  20. ↑ Yin-Poole, Wesley (5 March 2015). "Jagex's Block N Load out in April". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2 April 2015.
  21. ↑ "Q&A: Jagex's Faulkner Talks New Service, Emerging Trends". Gamasutra. 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  22. ↑ "Jagex Announce 8 Realms "Empire Building"". 2011. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  23. ↑ Freeman, Will (28 May 2012). "Jobs cut at Jagex following MMO shutdown". Develop. Retrieved 29 May 2012.
  24. ↑ Purchese, Robert (11 October 2012). "Jagex says Carnage Racing brings triple-a graphics to Facebook". EuroGamer. Retrieved 5 November 2012.
  25. ↑ Karmali, Luke (13 October 2014). "Chronicle: RuneScape Legends Announced for 2015 Release". IGN. Retrieved 18 December 2014.
  26. ↑ "Jagex brings Asian game to Western gamers | VentureBeat". 2010. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  27. ↑ Snider, Mike (19 January 2010). "'Microtransactions' add up for free online games". USA Today. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  28. 1 2 Reahard, Jef (10 May 2011). "Jagex partners with Herotainment to publish Herotopia". Massively. Retrieved 10 May 2011.
  29. ↑ Daniel, Matt (25 May 2011). "Herotopia relaunches today!". Massively. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
  30. ↑ Cardy, Elisabeth (12 December 2012). "Feast your eyes on the Ace of Spades launch trailer". Massively. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  31. ↑ Hyper Hippo Productions (15 May 2017). "New Beginnings and New Projects". Retrieved 15 May 2017.
  32. ↑ "Jagex reveals first MechScape details". Eurogamer. 2009. p. 1. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  33. ↑ "Jagex cans MechScape at enormous cost". Eurogamer. 2010. p. 1. Retrieved 16 May 2011.
  34. ↑ Olivetti, Justin (2 March 2012). "Jagex pauses Stellar Dawn's development". Massively. Retrieved 18 March 2012.
  35. ↑ "Transformers Universe". Game Informer. Retrieved 25 January 2013.
  36. ↑ Royce, Brianna (2 July 2014). "Transformers Universe launches open beta for the 4th of July". Massively.com. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  37. ↑ Tipps, Seth (16 December 2014). "Transformers Universe MMO Is Shutting Down". IGN. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
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