Being the second-biggest game in any given corner of the medium is nothing to sniff at. It's a competitive industry, and having enough players to stay afloat is a luxury many never manage. RuneScape studio Jagex isn't exactly dissatisfied with silver medals at the minute, but the aspiration is to take the top spot someday.
The studio's CEO, Jon Bellamy, made as much extremely clear to The Game Business. "The dream is that we're not the number two biggest MMO brand in the world, we’re number one," he says.
"There's a big old gap between us and number one," he continues. "But if we get it right, we know we can make headway."
The top spot belongs to World of Warcraft, still the definitive MMORPG. We could split hairs for hours over what constitutes an MMO here and by what values we're ranking them (Final Fantasy 14 players would surely like a word), but RuneScape and WoW are both online fantasy RPGs, making them fairly direct competition even if they play very differently.
RuneScape's got a strong foothold at this point, since the original version predates our first quests around Azeroth by a few years. However, World of Warcraft's been impossible to overtake since soon after launch, with greater production values than practically anything else available at the time, and a business model that toed the line between affordable and sustainable.
But Jagex has hung in there over the last 25 years, providing a worthy alternative to anyone who doesn't enjoy WoW or sickos who want another grind on their second monitor. Bellamy knows how it sounds having the giant in his sights, but argues, what's the point of goals if they don't scare you a little?
"It's lofty and ambitious, but if you're going to set lofty and ambitious goals, why not swing for the top?" he adds. "So, that's the number one goal."
Honestly, I wouldn't count out the classic MMO. RuneScape's maintained relevance without abandoning the aesthetic and (very literal) old-school ideas that made it what it is. We'll see what the next decade has to offer.
