Old School RuneScape reached a peak of 240,000 concurrent players earlier this year, making it roughly eight times the size of RuneScape 3. Bellamy aims to narrow that divide by restoring the non-retro game’s reputation, addressing gameplay integrity, and reversing the years-long creep of microtransactions that have weighed the title down.
He’s adamant that microtransactions will never be introduced to Old School RuneScape, and accepts that rolling back such systems in RuneScape 3 could reduce short-term revenue — a trade-off he’s willing to endure for a healthier, more sustainable game over the long term.
Bellamy suggests Jagex is already near that second-place slot, noting the frequent surprise people express when they discover how large Old School RuneScape’s audience has become.
“It often takes people by surprise,” he says, referencing a tool that tracks online ‘mindshare’ across YouTube, Google searches, and other discussions. According to that data, Old School RuneScape currently holds the strongest Western MMO mindshare — a finding Bellamy found as surprising as many others.
While that type of metric is imprecise, Old School RuneScape’s recent trajectory is undeniable. “We’ve identified our target, we’re moving toward it, and the growth for Old School RuneScape over recent months has been remarkable,” Bellamy adds.
He explains Jagex doesn’t plan on major acquisitions or launching many large-scale new projects. Instead, the company will concentrate on what it does well, making incremental 1–3% improvements across dozens of areas each year for the next five years.
“Of all the problems to have, too many players is one of the better ones.” The 2025 summer migration from other MMOs brought a significant influx of WoW players — a trend that proved beneficial to Old School RuneScape’s development team.
Source: gamesradar.com
