Jagex hails most successful year

Jagex has confirmed its most successful year to date in filing its annual results for the period January to December 2012.

Jagex, which now employs more than 550 staff at its Cambridge offices, saw turnover rise above £50 million for the first time in the studio’s history, making it the company’s most successful year to date.

The developer points its continued growth to the popularity of its flagship title, RuneScape, which saw tens of millions of new players enter the game for the first time during 2012, coupled with the release for two new titles, Ace of Spades and Carnage Racing.

The vast majority of the studio’s profits have been reinvested into its development projects, which have allowed the RuneScape development team to double in size, as well as underwriting the development costs of other new projects.

In the January this year, the company told Develop that 2012 was its biggest year so far, but was yet to file its financial result for the year with Companies House. The continued health of RuneScape and its expansion to new titles have belayed fears that the studio was in toruble.

“2012 was a pivotal year for Jagex and today’s figures are a real testament to the whole Jagex team who have continued to over perform year after year,” said Mark Gerhard, CEO at Jagex.

“Jagex’s success is a result of our community driven development focus. We have a unique approach to development at Jagex and continue to strive to make RuneScape the most player influenced game in the world, ensuring our player’s get the content they want, when and where they want it. This ethos has paid dividends and has helped to position Jagex at the forefront of the UK development scene. Ultimately it is the support of our players that allow us to continue to be successful, and we look to continue to.”

Looking ahead to the rest of 2013 and beyond, Gerhard added that that studio plans to release the biggest update in RuneScape’s history, launch Transformers Universe and publish a number of new titles.

Jagex COO Riaan Hodgson added: “Our results for 2012 are hugely encouraging, especially in the face of a difficult financial climate, which has seen many games developers closing their doors or making significant layoffs. Jagex, in contrast, has continued to expand both in headcount and in our games portfolio. 2012 has seen us evolve into a real leader in digital publishing and development.”