Microtransactions first started coming to Runescape in 2012. This came around the time of Runescape’s massive Evolution of Combat update, and these two major changes to the game decimated the player base with many choosing to leave Runescape altogether and many more choosing to jump over to Old School Runescape that launched in 2013. But why were microtransactions introduced? Well, that’s a much more complicated question. In terms of Jagex, the general claim the company makes about microtransactions is that they exist to help combat real-world trading. In other words, if Jagex provides a safe way to directly spend money within Runescape, players won’t feel as incentivized to go off to shady sites and spend their money there on gold, accounts, items, etcetera. Generally, the community finds this to be more of an excuse and less of a reason for microtransactions, the real reason being that Jagex wanted to make more money. In reality, there is likely some truth to that. Back in 2012, the gaming industry had been spending years watching mobile games and free-to-play games with microtransactions make massive amounts of money, so more and more games were hopping on the microtransaction train. In the eyes of Jagex, who ran a free-to-play game themselves, no doubt watching folks with similar business models make shocking amounts of money was tantalizing while Runescape continued to wane in popularity and players. Running a huge MMO is an expensive endeavor, and so is financing its development, and considering Runescape in 2012 was generally agreed to be well, well past its prime, considering new monetization strategies made sense. As you might expect, the reaction to all microtransactions in Runescape was incredible pushback from players who universally hated the system. Since Runescape is a grindy game with almost infinite content, shortcutting to getting XP or cool cosmetics made most players feel like their hard work was being invalidated by those with cash to spend. Unfortunately, Jagex has stood by its addition of microtransactions to Runescape, and the game has had them now for over a decade. Though, this does make sense when you realize that Runescape has far, far fewer players than Old School Runescape, which is no small part because Old School doesn’t have microtransactions, so it’s doubtlessly a lot harder to make money off of a small group of players with just a monthly subscription.
Will Microtransactions Come to Old School Runescape?
Nope, they won’t. Rest assured. At least, none more than are currently in the game. There aren’t microtransactions in Old School, but like in Runescape, you can buy Bonds. A Bond will give you a month of premium Runescape membership, but they’re also in-game goods that can be traded on the marketplace for in-game gold. In part, this means that a free-to-play player of Old School can earn up enough gold to buy themselves their own premium membership all without spending a dime of real money, but it also means that there’s a roundabout way in-game to buy gold directly from Jagex. Of course, if you’re wanting to buy gold, you probably won’t buy Bonds, because there are any number of third-party sites that while against the rules will sell you much more gold much more easily, which is generally the kind of real-world trading that’s done in Old School Runescape behind the scenes in the shadows. Nonetheless, when Old School was launched, Jagex promised microtransactions would never come to the game, and every major update to the game is first polled to the players, and unless 70% vote yes, it won’t come to the game. So, microtransactions would only ever come to Old School if they were polled to the community and a majority of players wanted them in the game. Considering that a big reason why people left Runescape came down to microtransactions and Jagex promised they wouldn’t come to the game, it’s unlikely players would ever vote in microtransactions, so Old School is likely to stay rid of them forever. Of course, though, anything is possible, and in almost all MMOs today you will find microtransactions.
