RuneScape experienced a surge of popularity over the 2025 holiday season. While fan nostalgia for a game that is now 25 years old plays a role, the revival more clearly reflects recent changes to RuneScape’s controversial monetisation – changes that appear to be drawing players back.

I worked at RuneScape from 2008 until 2014. First as a content developer – a designer, writer and implementer for the frequent updates – then as a senior designer, design lead and product owner for non-subscription monetisation.

Runescape is a multiplayer fantasy roleplaying video game, originally played via web browser but now downloadable. It was venerable even when I joined, and the questions that were on my team’s minds at the time are still relevant now – particularly around risks and benefits of courting player nostalgia, preserving versus modernising the game, and how to monetise in a sensitive way.

Reliable player numbers for RuneScape are hard to come by. The game’s publisher Jagex publishes real-time concurrent player counts, which show clear long-term trends, but does not release monthly active user figures. While exact revenue breakdowns are not public, changes in active players still matter because engaged players are the most likely to subscribe or spend.

The RuneScape franchise includes the main game, which has been live since 2001, and Old School RuneScape. The latter was launched in 2013 as a deliberately preserved version of the game as it existed in 2007, aimed at nostalgic players.

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