Runescape is now owned by the world's second-largest private equity firm

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It's the third time in five years Jagex has been acquired.

Runescape
(Image credit: Jagex)

Jagex, the the Cambridge-based studio best-known for Runescape, has been bought by the second-largest private equity firm in the world, the Carlyle Group. The developer has changed hands a couple of times in the last five years: it was bought out by Macarthur Fortune Holding less than a year ago, having been under the ownership of Shanghai Hongtou Network Technology since 2016.

The Carlyle Group has declined to disclose how much they spent on the deal, though the Telegraph reports it is expected to be higher than the $520 million (£390m) Macarthur spent last year.

According to the Carlyle Group, the acquisition will lead to more investment and resources being poured into Runescape, with a faster rate of content than we're currently seeing. The group also plans to use its network and resources to launch new titles in an effort to expand Jagex's portfolio.

Jagex CEO, Phil Mansell, said the studio was 'so proud' to be partnering with the Carlyle Group, adding: "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 is one of the most enduring RPG franchises and has a fantastic and committed player base," says Michael Wand, managing director at Carlyle. "We look forward to drawing on the full resources of Carlyle to support Phil and his team to continue to grow the existing RuneScape franchise as well as launching new, exciting ones.”

Runescape turned 20 earlier this month (feel old yet?) with its Old School version raking in the game's highest number of concurrent players ever back in November 2020.

It's been a busy month of acquisitions and buyouts—last week saw Tencent buy Don't Starve developers Klei Entertainment, while Team17 scooped up the assets and rights to Golf With Your Friends.

Mollie Taylor
Mollie Taylor
Features Producer

Mollie spent her early childhood deeply invested in games like Killer Instinct, Toontown and Audition Online, which continue to form the pillars of her personality today. She joined PC Gamer in 2020 as a news writer and now lends her expertise to write a wealth of features, guides and reviews with a dash of chaos. She can often be found causing mischief in Final Fantasy 14, using those experiences to write neat things about her favourite MMO. When she's not staring at her bunny girl she can be found sweating out rhythm games, pretending to be good at fighting games or spending far too much money at her local arcade.