RuneScape hits 1 million subscribers, including free members 10 million players total

6 May 2007

124 Comments

Posted by:Ferry Groenendijk

RuneScape is a free Java-based MMORPG playable on any web browser and was released back in January 2001. UK developer Jagex has told Mercurynews that it now has over 1 million subscribers who pay $5 a month each. Additionally, according to Gamedaily more than 9 million players are trying out RuneScape for free. That makes for a hefty total userbase of over 10 million RuneScape players!

RuneScape takes place in the fantasy realm of Gielinor,which is divided into several different kingdoms, regions, and areas. Players make their own avatar and can travel throughout the nonlinear gaming world on foot, by using magical teleportation spells, devices, or vehicles. Evert region has different types of monsters, materials, and quests to challenge players. Take a look at this fanmade video:


Outside of these quests, part of the secret to RuneScape’s success is that it doesn’t take itself seriously. In one recent event, players could transform themselves into penguins and infiltrate the penguin army to see what they were up to in the penguin underworld. The game has been growing largely by word of mouth.

Make that 10 million and 1 etc. I just checked out the half an hour introduction island and then did some battling on World 52, it seems like a fun but very campy 90s style of game. — Via Slashdot & Wikipedia