Jagex, the company behind long-running MMO RuneScape, has been acquired by global investment firm The Carlyle Group, according to a press release from the studio. The terms of the transaction itself were not disclosed by either party.
The investment brings the UK-based games development studio under the banner of the The Carlyle Group, which is one of the world's largest investment firms with "$230 billion of assets undeer management."
Via the press release:
Carlyle will leverage its global network, expertise and resources to support Jagex as it continues to drive growth by evolving the core RuneScape franchise through investment in R&D and increased content release rates, as well as launching new titles to diversify its portfolio and engage with an even wider community of players. Equity for the investment was provided by Carlyle Partners (CP) VII and Carlyle Europe Technology Partners (CETP) IV funds.
In a quote in the release, Jagex CEO Phil Mansell stated that he's "proud" to work with Carlyle, as the firm "believes in the potential of Jagex."
“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. 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.”
RuneScape has been going strong for two decades, with 2021 marking the 20th anniversary of the MMO. Recently added to Steam, RuneScape has already started rolling out 20th anniversary content around both RuneScape and Old School RuneScape, as well as hoping to launch on both iOS and Android devices with cross play.
