RuneScape membership premiered at five dollars per month in 2002. The fee unlocked unrestricted access within the game with no additional costs required. However, membership today costs much more. Is RuneScape membership too expensive today or is it worth it?
During the earlier years of the games success, creator Andrew Gower felt that Microtransactions were against the spirit of the game, with a news post in 2006 saying as much:
We feel your status in real-life shouldn’t affect your ability to be successful in the game.
Jagex, 2006
Despite initial pure intentions, the landscape of the gaming world has drastically changed over the last two decades, resulting in increasingly coercive cost bolt-ons. Runescape 3, for instance, offers paid cosmetics, paid XP boosts, loot box gambling, and even a battle pass.
However, is it all doom and gloom? Is there value to extract from the base membership cost of RuneScape? There are many points to consider when explaining why RuneScape membership costs are rising:
Why is RuneScape membership more expensive now?
A monthly RuneScape subscription (which includes both RuneScape 3 and oldschool RuneScape) costs $12.49, or $79.99 if purchased as a yearly subscription package. Assuming a user from the USA pays on a month-to-month basis, that is almost a 150% increase from the launch cost of RuneScape membership.
Currency | Premier 12 Month | 6 Month | 1 Month |
USD | 79.99 | 59.99 | 12.49 |
GBP | 59.99 | 44.99 | 8.99 |
EUR | 69.99 | 53.99 | 10.99 |
AUD | 119.99 | 80.99 | 16.99 |
CAD | 113.99 | 71.99 | 14.99 |
Whilst it appears to be an alarming increase in price, Reddit user u/shunabuna made an excellent graph to display the inflation-adjusted membership cost. After all, 10 dollars today is worth much less compared to 20 years ago. Therefore, the chart below can help us to understand the real-world increase in membership costs:
![Graph displaying a 60 percent increase in cost after inflation adjustment from years 2002 to 2024 for runescape membership.](https://megasplain.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/price-of-runescape-membership-1024x594.png)
Thus, the 150% price increase is slashed down to a palatable 80% when considering the passage of time. Nevertheless, the question remains regarding the price hikes that the game has undertaken over recent years.
Rising Development costs adds to RuneScape being expensive
According to Jagex, rising development costs are cited as being a main contributor to the gradual increase is membership costs:
In the last 4 years, we have seen rising development costs, inflationary rises globally and fluctuations between international currencies. Today’s changes reflect this. As always, we’re committed to providing the best value for your membership with meaningful content updates and improvements to our services.
Jagex, 2022
According to accounts posted in 2021, Jagex indeed makes the majority of its revenue from subscription sales. However, microtransaction revenue has been on the rise in recent years, almost doubling in two years from 2019 to 2021.
![](https://megasplain.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/microtransaction-subscription-revenue.png)
Since Jagex is a publicly listed company, the primary aim of the institution is to increase revenue. Naturally, this means that stagnation spells disaster for the stakeholders in charge of the company. Consequently, any changes to inflation or development costs must be passed on to the consumer in order to guard profitability.
RuneScape 3 is potentially not worth playing as a new player in 2024 due to the particularly egregious microtransaction integration. This sentiment is shared by many. The game has floundered in recent years due to a litany of microtransaction introductions in addition to poor game direction. RuneScape 3 accounts for only 20% of the player base. With that being said, the membership cost justifies itself with the bundled player favourite – Oldschool RuneScape.
Oldschool RuneScape makes membership worth it
Oldschool RuneScape commands approximately 80% of the total RuneScape player base as of 2024. Despite the game’s supposed successor being overloaded with microtransactions, oldschool RuneScape has escaped the same fate. The overwhelming sentiment of hatred towards the developmental direction of RuneScape 3 has resulted in oldschool RuneScape adopting a ‘community-vote’ approach to updates. As a result, Microtransactions will not be added to the game unless the majority of players demand it.
![Image of players in oldschool runescape](https://megasplain.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/oldschool-runescape.png)
Oldschool RuneScape retains the early 2000’s charm of MMORPG’s with an ever increasing slate of updates. Typically, several sizeable updates are released per month in order to keep the players engaged.
Perhaps RuneScape 3 was a necessary evil in order to keep egregious microtransactions away from the oldschool RuneScape experience. Whilst there is one form of microtransaction – the bond – there has not been any other hint of unfair real-money mechanics in the pipeline for future updates. Jagex can front-load RuneScape 3 with microtransactions for those who have an appetite for spending money, whilst keeping oldschool RuneScape free from pay-to-win.
Is Runescape membership too expensive?
Not at all. RuneScape membership may seem expensive at a glance. However, the subscription cost enables oldschool RuneScape to remain microtransaction free for the foreseeable future. Should the price of RuneScape membership be cut in half, we may see the introduction to predatory microtransactions to oldschool RuneScape.
It’s apparent that the player base would have to choose between cheaper membership or increased microtransactions in oldschool RuneScape. Since the latter is not an option, the only remaining monetisation strategy is to increase the price of membership.
If you can afford to do so, purchasing RuneScape membership for 12 months slashes the price down to $6.60 a month, a respectable investment if you enjoy the game.
The current cost of oldschool RuneScape membership is a worthy price to pay if it means that the game remains in a pure state for years to come.