RuneScape is a pretty old game, but it has a new way of doing business as a free-to-play MMORPG with various microtransaction models and monetization hooks. That said, Jagex has heard feedback that it can do better with these systems and is trying to take that feedback to heart according to a livestream last week.
The stream opened up with mention of the Parliamentary report that alleges someone spent over $60k on the game, which was found by the Partliamentary committee to be lower than that according to presented evidence. Jagex has sent recommendations regarding the matter and are awaiting a committee response, but that could take some time due to general elections. So, with that in mind, Jagex is taking matters into its own hands to bring things back in line.
The stream went on to take on several questions regarding how microtransactions are handled, where the money goes, and whether RuneScape players are being outright fleeced. They even took the rather acerbic question of why players should trust Jagex and responded by promising action as well as being openly communicative.
The livestream also brought up several ideas to fix RuneScape’s monetization, including combining all of its different stores, improving Treasure Hunter, planning a beta test for buff bars, and improving the Runepass to make tasks more interesting as well as make free to Premier Club members; expect a blog on that this week and an update later in the month.
In other RuneScape news, the Android beta for the mobile client is fully open now, as the devs are talking up linux client improvements in the latest patch run-down.
You can check out the full livestream embed below, or head to this summary, which further breaks down into an FAQ section and a TL;DR of the TL;DR.
