Jagex Marks RuneScape 25th Anniversary With Largest Ever Franchise Investment

RuneScape is officially hitting 25 years, and Jagex is using the milestone to reposition the franchise for the next era with what it calls its largest ever investment in RuneScape’s future. This is not being framed as a simple anniversary celebration. It is a broad operational reset that spans brand identity, content delivery, technology, player support, and long requested quality improvements that aim to modernize the experience while keeping the soul of RuneScape intact.

As part of the announcement, Jagex is rebranding itself as Jagex: The RuneScape Company, a clear signal that the studio is doubling down on RuneScape as its core long term platform. A new anniversary video walks through the celebration tone and what the studio says is coming next, including the return of RuneFest with double the capacity of prior events, positioned as the biggest RuneFest ever.

In the accompanying messaging, Jagex chief executive officer Jon Bellamy emphasized the scale and intent behind the plan, describing the current moment as the largest and most active RuneScape community in the game’s history. Bellamy framed the anniversary as a forward looking commitment focused on investment in the games, the player experience, technology, and internal teams, with the goal of ensuring RuneScape continues to connect millions for decades.

While the announcement does not fully detail every in game addition today, it does lock in key dates where players will get specifics. Jagex confirmed an RS Ahead live stream on January 19, 2026, intended to provide a full update on what it calls the new era of RuneScape. Old School RuneScape roadmap details will follow during the Old School RuneScape Winter Summit stream on January 25, 2026. RuneScape: Dragonwilds will get its own dedicated summit on January 29, 2026, including expansions and a refreshed roadmap for that experience.

The direction Jagex is signaling is a franchise wide rejuvenation rooted in integrity, visual renewal, and a renewed focus on what makes RuneScape special. Jagex specifically calls out a long requested Player Avatar refresh, meaningful visual upgrades, and major improvements to player support, which is a critical investment area for any live service game trying to retain a broad audience across PC, mobile, and long tail returning players.

One of the most important confirmed player facing changes is the removal of Treasure Hunter microtransactions, which the community voted to remove in November 2025. That is a major trust and sentiment move, because monetization design is one of the most sensitive levers in any forever game, especially one with a long running player culture that values fairness and consistent progression.

Beyond the content and feature roadmap, Jagex also highlighted a long term industry investment play: the creation of the Future Talent Pathway in partnership with Into Games. This mentorship and development programme is designed to support aspiring developers, particularly those from low income and working class backgrounds, with the goal of improving access to game industry career pathways. In an era where studio closures have removed many traditional mentorship pipelines, this kind of structured talent investment can create real downstream impact not just for RuneScape, but for the wider ecosystem that needs new creators entering the industry with support and practical guidance.

Jagex chair Marc Allera reinforced the corporate strategy behind the milestone, describing this moment as the start of a new chapter defined by growth and innovation, backed by record levels of funding for RuneScape, Old School RuneScape, and RuneScape: Dragonwilds. The intent is clear: expand content delivery, improve tooling and technology, and make the end to end player experience more seamless, while rewarding the community that kept the franchise alive for 25 years.

If Jagex delivers on the promised player first upgrades and removes friction across performance, visuals, and support, RuneScape has a real opportunity to strengthen its position as one of the few true forever games that can keep evolving without losing its identity.

What do you want to see most from this new era, the Player Avatar refresh, deeper visual upgrades across the world, or bigger Old School RuneScape content swings that feel like classic era expansions?