RuneScape: Reignited, a shiny new version of the long-running British MMORPG, has been cancelled less than two weeks after it was revealed.
RuneScape Reignited – a major reveal during RuneFest earlier this month – was to be a game mode which would allow players to start fresh characters with a separate player-economy from regular RuneScape accounts, meaning they could only buy and sell items between themselves. Reignited accounts would also be prohibited from tackling bosses with regular RuneScape accounts. It was an attempt to court new players to the game. However, it was immediately met with fierce feedback from long-time RuneScape players.
Jagex announced the cancellation of RuneScape: Reignited in both a blog post and YouTube video, in which associate creative director Mod Ryan explained why the sudden U-turn had occurred: “We received a ton of different perspectives from all of you, and we truly appreciate everyone sharing their views.
“It is super important to us because the last time we didn’t listen to player feedback, combat changed forever. And it has taken us over a decade to recover from that. Now I said on stage that we would not repeat the same mistakes of the past, and I truly stand by that. Considering this, we have made the decision to cancel Reignited.”
The question on the mind of the RuneScape layperson is: why was the feedback so strong against Reignited? The core reasons come down to splitting the playerbase, and Reignited’s potential to leave loyal players stranded.
Because of Reignited characters’ totally separate player economies to pre-existing RuneScape accounts, and given their fresh-start nature, they would have been the obvious avenue for newcomers to the MMO. As such, the community would have been split in two, and non-Reignited accounts would have been starved of new blood that could keep it healthy and active in the months and years to come.
There was no option to transition an old RuneScape account to a Reignited one, either, so for veteran players who wanted to hop into this new exciting version of RuneScape, they’d have to throw away potentially years of progress and memories to do so, leaving their old accounts to wilt. We’re talking thousands of hours and heaps of cash here.
However it’s also worth noting Jagex did do this for a reason. The in-game economy of RuneScape has been hyper-inflated for a while now, making the process of creating a new character and progressing through to the endgame a daunting progress due to gargantuan prices. For example, a Bond (exchangeable for a month of premium membership) sells for 11.2m coins on Old School RuneScape. On regular RuneScape, a bond sells for 141.3m coins.
Reignited accounts would have – for all their faults – solved this problem, providing an easy on-ramp for those curious to check the game out. With Reignited’s cancellation this problem still persists, leaving Jagex with the same hurdle it had in front of it a month ago, just with an extra bruise or two.
Thankfully for Jagex, RuneScape: Reignited was not the only reveal from RuneFest, and as Ryan went on to mention, RuneScape is getting an Adventure Guide update and other additions in December, and a free trial. In perhaps more exciting news, RuneScape 4, an entirely new MMO, was also revealed at the show.
