OK, so maybe Jagex hasn’t been sold again, yet.
The backstory: Earlier this year, we covered the news that RuneScape developer Jagex was being put up for sale by the Chinese holding company that purchased it back in 2016. The reason, as we noted then, wasn’t that the UK-based Jagex had performed poorly; it was that Shanghai Fukong itself was having problems in the Chinese communication sector, as its stock had collapse and its company chairman resigned in December. Jagex, meanwhile, assured everyone that Jagex and RuneScape itself would be fine.
Then, this week, we covered Chinese publication Yicai Global’s piece that appeared to confirm that Fukong would be selling Jagex to “US Platinum Fortune,” valuing it at $530M US ($230M more than it paid back in 2016). (As we noted at the time, this is likely a mangled translation of Platinum Equity, which as Redditors point out is a California-based private equity investment firm.)
Jagex, however, has now denied that the ink is dry on such a deal, in spite of Yicai’s seemingly authoritative claim, instead suggesting that there are other outcomes still possible.
“Fukong’s regulatory statement earlier this year acknowledged that the company was looking to restructure its debt, which has resulted in recent announcements regarding a potential sale, however this remains one of various possible outcomes and is an evolving situation,” Jagex director of communications Rich Eddy told GamesIndustry.biz, while reiterating Jagex’s “five years of record growth.” Eddy did not clear up the US Platinum Fortune or Platinum Equity confusion, however.
