Jagex

References[edit | edit source]

1. ^ JAGEX LIMITED overview. Companies House.*
2. Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2021 (PDF). Jagex. 28 October 2022.*
3. Video: RuneScape HD Details from Leipzig GC. Ten Ton Hammer, owned and operated by Master Games International Inc.. 27 September 2008.*
4. ^ About Jagex. RuneScape Customer Support documentation. Jagex Limited. «Jagex, which stands for Java Gaming Experts, is the name of the company which produces the Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, MMORPG, RuneScape, and the Java Activities site, FunOrb, as well as some other small games. In December 2001, Andrew Gower, Paul Gower and Constant Tedder got together and founded Jagex Limited as a commercial operation to take over the running of RuneScape, its underlying technologies and other games developed by Andrew.»*
5. ^ Image Trademark with Serial Number 79206559. JUSTIA Trademarks. 18 May 2017.*
6. Jagex Software. Jagex. Archived from the original on 29 November 1999.
7. Jagex. RuneFest’s Twitter account. 28 August 2010. Archived from the original on 6 December 2012.
8. «RuneScape reaches one million members!». RuneScape News. Jagex. 4 May 2007. Archived from the original.
9. Rich List 2006. Sunday Times Online. Archived from the original on 22 May 2011.
10. RuneScape Developers Jagex Ltd. Secure Investment from Insight Venture Partners. GamingBlog. 28 October 2005. Archived from the original on 25 July 2009.
11. «German Language Beta Launch – Some Information». RuneScape News. Jagex. 14 February 2007. Archived from the original.
12. «Hereinspaziert — die Open Beta der deutschen Version beginnt!». RuneScape News. Jagex. 7 March 2007. Archived from the original.
13. The Sunday Times Best 100 Companies to Work For. Sunday Times Online. Archived from on 30 September 2007.
14. Fallout 3 crowned ‘game of year’. BBC Newsbeat. 30 October 2009.*
15. Mod Balance. «Jagex Investment & Aquisition.» 14 July 2016. Archived from the original on 14 July 2016. General Forums.
16. Jamie Quested. Investment bonanza triggered as Jagex goes to Chinese in $300m deal. Business Weekly. 14 July 2016.*
17. Wesley Yin-Poole. Runescape maker Jagex bought by Chinese investors. Eurogamer.net. 14 July 2016.*
18. Christopher Dring. Jagex profit and revenue spike in another record year. gameindustry.biz. 10 September 2018.*
19. JAGEX CELEBRATES 18 YEARS OF RUNESCAPE AT AN ALL-TIME HIGH. Gamasutra/Jagex. 4 January 2019.*
20. Shanghai Fukong Interactive Entertainment Swings To Net Loss In Jan-Sept. Reuters. 30 October 2018. Archived from the original on 24 March 2019.
21. Bree Royce. RuneScape dev Jagex is up for sale by its struggling Chinese owners after posting record high year. MassivelyOP.com. 25 January 2019.*
22. Alissa McAloon. A ‘major reorganization’ could see RuneScape dev Jagex put up for sale. Gamasutra/Jagex. 28 January 2019.*
23. «A company Announcement». RuneScape News. Jagex. 28 April 2020. Archived from the original.
24. Tom Ivan. RuneScape maker Jagex acquired for $530 million. VGC. 28 April 2020.*
25. James Batchelor. Jagex sold for $530m. GamesIndustry.biz. 28 April 2020.*
26. Jagex. The Carlyle Group Acquires Jagex.*
27. Jagex Company History. Jagex. Archived from the original on 2 July 2007.
28. Michael Zenke. E308: Jagex teases sci-fi successor to RuneScape, Mechscape. Massively. 15 July 2008. Archived from the original on 19 July 2008.
29. MechScape World. MechScape World. Archived from the original on 25 May 2010.
30. MechScape — what do we know?. Zybez. 8 August 2008. Archived from the original on 16 August 2008.
31. «RuneScape France». RuneScape News. Jagex. 11 December 2008. Archived from the original.
32. jettyguy. «RuneFest — Runescape Genesis Devious MUD» . YouTube video. 30 August 2010.
33. Mod Korpz. FunOrb Announcement Forums. 27 February 2008. Archived from the original on 2 March 2008.
34. FunOrb News. Archived from the original on 5 August 2018.
35. MCV Staff. Jagex to close online game portal FunOrb. MCV/Develop. 9 May 2018.*
36. Schiehsl3. «Jagex Confirms MechScape (At E3)» . YouTube video. 1 December 2008.
37. ^ Michael French. MechScape dropped by developer Jagex. casualgaming.biz. 30 October 2009. Archived from the original on 1 November 2009.
38. PoultryChamp. Mark Gerhard’s Q&A with MechScape World. MechScape World. 25 October 2009. Archived from the original on 27 October 2009.
39. Jagex. Stellar Dawn’s Twitter account. 14 July 2010. Archived from the original on 6 July 2020. Stellar Dawn: «The Stellar Dawn #mmorpg website has now been launched at http://www.stellardawn.com»
40. Mod Mmg. Pausing Stellar Dawn. 2 March 2012. Archived from the original on 6 March 2012.
41. Charities. Jagex. Archived from the original on 18 August 2011.
42. Jagex. YouTube.*
43. RuneScape. YouTube.*

Branding[edit | edit source]

Jagex’s current brand logo is a «mark drawing» (i.e. a drawing or design without any word(s)/letter(s)/number(s)) reminiscent of the letter «X», and is filed as an Image Trademark with the International Registration Number of 1342541. The logo is accepted by law for use with electronics, websites, video entertainment, merchandise (such as hoodies, hats, etc), and other miscellaneous accessories relating to the aforementioned.
The usage thereof specifically specifies that for the logo to fall under copyright, it must have «Incomplete triangles with two angles». No set colours are specified, meaning that the logo can be altered and adjusted for a wider range of varieties, such as the Jagex Charity Initiatives logo (seen in the gallery section of this article).

History[edit | edit source]

Jagex Staff members circa 2011

The name Jagex Software has been in use since at least 1999 and was originally described as a «small software company based in England specialise in producing top-quality Java-games for webpages».Andrew Gower tweeted on the RuneFest Twitter that the original Jagex office was «two meters by three meters with a table and PC we had borrowed».

According to Companies House, Meaujo (492) Limited was incorporated on 28 April , and changed its name to Jagex Limited on 27 June . The Jagex website states that the company was founded in December 2001 by Andrew Gower, Paul Gower, and Constant Tedder. The aim of this company was to operate its MMORPG, RuneScape, which had been in development since 1999. By the time of the company’s founding, one year after the release of the game, RuneScape already had over one million free accounts registered. The first tasks of the company were to create a version of the game with extra features that required a £3.20 ($5 USD) monthly fee, while still offering the free version, and to develop partnerships with advertisers. Both tasks were achieved, and the pay-to-play version of RuneScape was released on 27 February , gaining 5,000 subscriptions in the first week making RuneScape one of the largest Java pay-to-play games in the world. On 4 May , Jagex announced that RuneScape has over 9,000,000 free players and over 1,000,000 pay-to-play subscribers. In 2006, Andrew and Paul Gower were calculated to be worth £32 million. On «The Rich List 2007», Andrew and Paul are under claims to be worth £106 million ($168 million USD). Andrew Gower is also known for his varieties of Java games. Jagex also received an investment from Insight Venture Partners in October 2005. The company had been self-funded before this investment. RuneScape has since been translated into German, French, and recently in Portuguese. Jagex was ranked 59th on the list of The Best 100 Companies to work for by the Sunday Times. In 2009, Jagex was short listed for the UK Developer of The Year award at the Golden Joystick Awards.

Jagex co-creator, Andrew Gower, still works with Jagex staff every day.

Around December 2011, Jagex finished preparation of a full move to a consolidated HQ in Cambridge Science Park. This combined both their Community Management and FunOrb office and their former headquarters. This building is more than double the size of the old HQ, and has many more perks and amenities with it than the old office, allowing Jagex to improve their benefits even more.

The Jagex APC in front of the new Jagex office.

In 2012, Jagex opened a small office in California, with former Rockstar Games developers staffing it. They are currently working on a Facebook game called Carnage Racing, which is now out and available on Facebook or through the Carnage Racing Website at www.carnageracing.com.

In the beginning of Quarter 3 of 2016, Jagex was acquired by Fukong Interactive Entertainment for $300 million USD.

In 2018, Jagex’s profit and revenue had broken a record previously set by the third quarter of 2008, citing that profit is up by 50% to 43.5 million GBP. Following this, their shareholders Fukong Interactive Entertainment released that they suffered a $64.54 million loss, and would be selling off their 100% stake in Jagex Ltd.

On 28 April , it was announced that Jagex was acquired by Macarthur Fortune Holding LLC, a global asset management company, for $530 million.

In January 2021, The Carlyle Group acquired Jagex from Macarthur Fortune Holding.

History

Members of Jagex staff after a paintball game in April 2003.

The name Jagex Software has been in use since at least and was originally described as a «small software company based in England specialise in producing top-quality Java-games for webpages».Andrew Gower tweeted on the RuneFest Twitter that the original Jagex office was «two meters by three meters with a table and PC we had borrowed». In , Jagex created a game called DeviousMUD, now called RuneScape, which was never available to the public.

Meaujo (492) Limited was incorporated on 28 April 2000, later becoming Jagex Limited on 27 June 2000. It was founded by Andrew Gower, Paul Gower, and Constant Tedder with the aim to operate its then in-development MMORPG RuneScape, which had been in development since 1999. Only a year after the game’s release, it already had over one million free accounts registered. The company began exploring monetization of the game in the form a monthly fee, and the development of partnerships with advertisers, eventually launching a subscription version of the game on 27 February 2002. There was 5,000 subscriptions in the first week of doing so, making RuneScape one of the largest Java pay-to-play games in the world.

Jagex received an investment from Insight Venture Partners in October 2005. The company had been self-funded before this investment. In 2006, On 4 May 2007, Jagex announced that RuneScape had reached over 9 million free players and 1 million subscribers. In Sunday Times’ Rich List in 2007, Andrew and Paul Gower were said to be worth £106 million.

In 2009, Jagex confirmed that it would be releasing a new game called MechScape.. It was announced at E3 2008 as a futuristic sci-fi MMORPG. However, in August 2009, they confirmed that the game had been cancelled. It was later revived as Stellar Dawn, until development on it paused on 2 March to focus on other projects.

The Jagex APC in front of the new Jagex office

The Quality Assurance department in the new Jagex headquarters office, 2012.

In December , Jagex finished preparation of a full move to a consolidated HQ in Cambridge’s Science Park. The building was more than double the size of their old office. In , Jagex opened a small office in California, with former Rockstar Games developers staffing it. Jagex also acted as the publisher of an online flash-based game called War of Legends, which was a multiplayer real time strategy game. It shut down on 29 January . By the end of , Jagex had over 500 staff members across multiple departments. Since 2014, staff numbers have declined.

In mid-, Jagex was acquired by Fukong Interactive Entertainment for $300 million.

Charity Fund Raising

Since 2004 Jagex has made donations to a number of national and international charities. It has also run charity auctions for signed merchandise. Jagex as an organisation raises appropriately £7,000 each year.

In 2008 they donated artwork and prizes to the MMOCalendar, which raises funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

In 4 years (probably 2005-2008), Jagex has donated money to charity, broken down as below.

• Year ending 6 March — £106,000
• Year ending 7 March — £157,000
• Year ending 8 March — £147,000
• Current year to date — £127,000

The charities that Jagex have donated to include:

• Save the Children
• CAFOD
• Hamlin Churchill Childbirth Injuries Fund
• Cancer Research

Members of Jagex staff that participated in Movember

• Cystic Fibrosis Trust
• The University of Pennsylvania
• Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign
• Bury Bombers Wheelchair Basketball
• SOS Children’s Villages
• East Anglican Children’s Hospice (EACH)

Jagex has also taken part in the Movember charity for men, and all revenue that comes from RuneFest is donated to charity.

Further Charity has been taken in the form of conversion of in-game wealth from players donations to money, from the Well of Goodwill , donated at $1 per 1 million.

Charity fundraising[edit | edit source]

Since 2004, Jagex has made donations to a number of national and international charities. It has also run 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 4 years (probably 2005-2008), Jagex has donated money to charity, broken down as below.

• Year ending 6 March — £106,000
• Year ending 7 March — £157,000
• Year ending 8 March — £147,000
• Current year to date — £127,000

The charities that Jagex have donated to include:

• Save the Children
• CAFOD
• Hamlin Churchill Childbirth Injuries Fund
• Cancer Research
• Cystic Fibrosis Trust
• The University of Pennsylvania
• Royal Marsden Cancer Campaign
• Bury Bombers Wheelchair Basketball
• SOS Children’s Villages
• East Anglican Children’s Hospice (EACH)

Jagex has also taken part in the Movember charity for men, and all revenue that comes from RuneFest is donated to charity.

Further charity has been taken in the form of conversion of in-game wealth from players donations to money, from the Well of Goodwill, donated at $1 per 1 million gp.

References

1. ^ WebCHeck. Crown Companies House.
2. http://www.jagex.com/careers/jagex/cambridge
3. Annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2016. Crown Companies House.
4. Video: RuneScape HD Details from Leipzig GC. Ten Ton Hammer, owned and operated by Master Games International Inc.. At 0:30, Geoff Iddison pronounces the name of the company.
5. . Sunday Times. Retrieved on 2008-05-02.
6. pp. 4. Madgex, on behalf of Times Online.
7. Bang! I win! Jagex team photo. Jagex Ltd..
8. Jagex Software. Jagex Ltd..
9. Twitter / RuneFest. Jagex Ltd..
10. RuneScape Developers Jagex Ltd. Secure Investment from Insight Venture Partners. GamingBlog.
11. RuneScape reaches one million members!. Jagex Ltd..
12. Rich List 2006. Sunday Times Online.
13. E308: Jagex teases sci-fi successor to RuneScape, Mechscape. Massively.
14. MechScape — what do we know?. Zybez.
15. Mod Balance. «Jagex Investment & Aquisition.» 14 July 2016. General Forums.
16. Jamie Quested. Investment bonanza triggered as Jagex goes to Chinese in $300m deal. Business Weekly. 14 July 2016.*
17. Wesley Yin-Poole. Runescape maker Jagex bought by Chinese investors. Eurogamer.net. 14 July 2016.*
18. RuneScape France. RuneScape News List. Jagex Ltd. “Bonjour! We’re pleased to announce that we have just released the RuneScape game and website in its third language: French. … More languages are planned for RuneScape in the future, so keep an eye out for further updates.”
19. FunOrb Announcement Forums.
20. FunOrb news. (Archived from the original on 2018-05-09.)*
21. FunOrb Sunsetting. (Archived from the original on 2018-05-09.)*
22. Confirmed by Jagex at the 2008 E3 Gaming Convention.
23. ^ http://www.casualgaming.biz/news/29415/Jagex-scraps-MechScape
24. http://www.mechscapeworld.com/2009/10/25/mark-gerhards-qa-with-mechscape-world/
25. Jagex. The Stellar Dawn #mmorpg website has now been launched at http://www.stellardawn.com.
26. Mod Mmg. Pausing Stellar Dawn.
27. http://www.jagex.com/careers/jagex/giving
28. http://www.jagex.com/corporate/Giving_Back/charities.ws Published several years ago
29. «The Jagex Channel», YouTube.com
30. «Runescape», Youtube.com

Future development[edit | edit source]

Jagex have stated on their website that they «intend to become a significant online operator in all the major gaming markets worldwide» by developing new games using their own technologies.

There had been many rumours of Jagex’s next big release, and Jagex confirmed at the gaming event E3 on 15 July that it would be releasing a new MMORPG called MechScape.MechScape game was planned to be released in the first quarter of the year of 2009, but it was delayed. It would have been a futuristic MMO that would have broken away from RuneScape’s simple roots but would still have been browser based. The game would have been aimed at a higher age range and would have been slightly or wholly sci-fi. However, it was cancelled in August 2009, but Jagex confirmed, on a MechScape fan forum, that they were re-developing it from scratch and had changed its name to «Stellar Dawn». On 2 March , Jagex announced a pause on the development of Stellar Dawn, in order to focus on other larger projects such as Transformers Universe and the continually-evolving future of RuneScape.

Jagex also acts as the publisher of the online flash-based game called «War of Legends». It is a multiplayer real-time strategy game.

Operation[edit | edit source]

Jagex has grown heavily since the founding of the company in 2001. They currently have offices in Cambridge and London, with a small office in California. The company had been recruiting heavily in 2006 and has over 500 employees, grouped into the multiple departments across the three offices. In 2011, they recruited nearly 200 employees, and Mark Gerhard has stated that they have doubled the size of the RuneScape team in order to bring about the Evolution of Combat, multiple game engine upgrades, and RuneScape 3.

They maintain about 140 servers for RuneScape in various locations in United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, New Zealand, Mexico and the United States. Some of the more recent additions to the servers include the addition of the German, French, and Portuguese servers. These are currently the only servers for non-English versions of the game thus far, but Jagex has confirmed that more languages are planned.