Runescape has increased its membership subscription fees, and players aren’t happy: ‘Inflation is my a**’

Jagex, the developer of Runescape, announced this week that membership fees for Runescape would be increasing. On September 27, 2024 the price of a subscription to a Runescape membership will increase from $12.49 per month to $13.99 per month. A premier 12-month subscription, which includes in-game bonuses when you subscribe for the entire year, will go up in price from $79.99 USD to $99.48USD annually.

As long as the player maintains their subscription, they will continue to pay their current "Grandfather rate". The Grandfather rate is not available to players with an annual premium membership.

Jagex justified the price increase in its announcement of pricing change, saying that "Membership prices have remained unchanged for the last two years, despite recent global inflationary forces." . According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), US consumer prices increased by 3.2% between July 2022 and July 2023, and 2.9% between July 2023 - July 2024. This is a total of 6,1% over the past two years. Jagex's September pricing changes will increase the price of a Runescape monthly membership by about 12%. The cost of a premium subscription, which is the subscription tier not eligible for grandfathering, will increase by more than 24%.

Runescape is technically free to play, but most of the in-game content requires a subscription. Importantly, you can only play one character on your Runescape account. Old School Runescape's monthly membership costs are less than $2 compared to World of Warcraft and Final Fantasy 14, both AAA games that allow you to have dozens of characters. This is a value proposition which is almost absurd.

Reddit is awash with players' outrage. This is not surprising. "Nah this one isn’t okay," says Redditor ALegendsTale. She notes that the price changes and other service issues have been a result of Jagex's recent acquisition by private equity firms. "The price increases over the last few years are excessive."

Modern Runescape players noticed that the price changes were occurring just before the much-anticipated Group Ironman mode was added. Another redditor's assessment was more blunt: "Inflation, my ass."

The September 2024 membership price increases will be Runescape's 6th price increase. Jagex's price increase began on August 18, 2008. It went from $5 USD (which I was able to extract from my parents every month with precocious and youthful guile) to $5.95 USD.

Jagex has not responded to the concerns about the latest price increase. And considering that the subscription fee has been going in only one direction since 2008 I can't imagine the company will walk back this one. I'm not going to be able convince my mother to renew my account at this price.