Jagex reports best ever results as Runescape subscribers rise by half a million

Runescape developer Jagex today reported its full year results and they’re looking very rosy indeed with key metrics all up for its fifth successive year of growth.

Revenue increased by 19.4 per cent year-on-year, up to £110.9m across 2019. From that operating profits hit a whopping £48.9m, an annual increase of 4.5% per cent. That growth outperforms last year’s excellent efforts.

Total subscribers to Runescape rose by half a million across the year, to all-time record numbers. And with Runescape entering its 20th anniversary year, it looks only likely to grow again. All undoubtedly great news for its new owners, with the company changing hands back in April for $530m.

This year the company also launched the mobile version of the game into early access, which should allow for yet further growth of the player base.

CEO Phil Mansell commented: “Jagex continues its journey of growth and investment and 2019 was an extraordinary year as we welcomed more players to our living games of RuneScape and Old School RuneScape than ever before, taking the company over the £100m+ revenue mark for the first time in our history. Attracting more players and, importantly, keeping our loyal gaming communities excited and engaged for the long-term speaks to the success of our living games ethos. This is the bedrock of our strategy and it is built on putting players first. In turn, this has attracted world-class talent to further bolster the amazing Jagex team and fuel further success.”

In addition to its financial success, jagex also noted that headcount had risen by 11 per cent, to 377 in total, with an almost constant series of hires appearing in MCV/DEVELOP.

“We continue to enhance our live games services and seek to expand their availability to more potential players across more devices, distribution platforms and regions as we transition to a multi-product and multi-platform studio. We are also increasing investments in further growth, which will include our talent base, technology, new games, pursuing publishing opportunities and forging strong partnerships with like minded companies. It’s an immense privilege to work alongside the talented people at Jagex, whose hard work and dedication, alongside our fantastic players, is the backbone of the company’s success.”