Runescape developer, Jagex’s new free to play MMO is in the works.
Several new job postings by the Runescape developer have suggested that the games company is currently in the process of hiring new talent in order to develop a new MMORPG title. Jagex’s new free to play MMO, has called for a Senior Game Designer and a Gameplay Programmer.
Not much else is available in terms of specifics, however, the jobs in question, require a familiarity with the Unity engine. The Unity games engine offers a lot of flexibility and crosses compatibility with platforms, similar to Java, which the original iterations of Runescape first utilized. A new MMO by Jagex would be the first time the developers of Runescape have committed to a new project of this scale, Runescape has been the primary concern for the developer, with each new iteration of the game taking precedence over the last.
The original Runescape launched all the back in January of 2001, since then the game has seen numerous overhauls and iterations, with Runescape 2 launching in 2004, setting the gold standard for web-based MMORPGS. Over the years, Runescape has gotten over 200 million user accounts subscribed to the game, the Guinness World Records have acknowledged the game for being the world’s largest free MMOPRG, in addition to the most updated game.
In 2007, Jagex made the decision to change how the PVP system in Runescape functioned, an area known as the Wilderness, a popular in-game destination for PVP was changed. The popular PVP zone was changed and players could only attack other players through specific activities instead of the usual free for all they were accustomed to.
This change came with the additional removal of free-trade, Jagex stated that the removal of PVP and free trading was in order to kerb the rampancy of Bots and other cheaters that used the game to sell gold and other valuables with real money. The removable of the Wilderness was a means to stop players from just killing each other and dropping loot, circumventing the trade ban. This change saw a drastic drop in the player base, as long-time fans of the series found the change fundamentally changing the meta of the title.
Since then, Jagex has reinstated the Wilderness by creating separate servers that house versions of Runescape prior to Runescape 3, giving players the option to play both the old school iteration of Runescape or the latest and greatest offerings available to them in Runescape 3. Currently, there are no further details surrounding Jagex’s new free to play MMO.
