The Minds Behind Runescape Join The Carlyle Group
The UK developer mainly known for creating Runescape, Jagex, has officially been acquired by The Carlyle Group. While the company didn’t discuss the financial terms to the agreement, both The Carlyle Group and Jagex have made statements confirming the acquisition. The Carlyle Group is a global investment firm with around $230 billion of assets under its belt, with Jagex joining the likes. Jagex’s widely popular MMORPG Runescape is available to try for free right now for PC, Mac, PC, and mobile.
“I am so proud that Jagex is teaming up with Carlyle, a prestigious investment group that believes in the potential of Jagex, our vision for growth, and will support us in accelerating our multi-year growth strategy,” said Jagex CEO Phill Mansell. “We will continue to expand our game teams to create and deliver more great content for RuneScape and Old School RuneScape. We will continue to create exciting experiences for our players, grow our global communities, build new games to expand and further explore the RuneScape universe, lend our expertise to publish third-party games from like-minded online game developers, and invest in the incredible tech and talent that powers this all.”
“The global video games market is large and growing, and within this, the global massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) sub-sector is particularly attractive,” said The Carlyle Group Managing Director Patrick McCarter. “We have been impressed with Jagex’s market position, strong track record of revenue and market share growth, as well as the experience and passion of the team.”
“RuneScape is one of the most enduring RPG franchises and has a fantastic and committed player base,” said The Carlyle Group’s Michael Wand. “We look forward to drawing on the full resources of Carlyle to support Phil and his team to continue to grow the existing RuneScape franchise as well as launching new, exciting ones. We believe with further investment and innovation, Jagex can build on its position as one of the most exciting video game developers for both existing and new generations of MMORPG players.”
Are you a fan of Jagex? Let us know in the comments below!